Lake Park nearly catches Elk Grove
Courtney Lindfors wearing Elk Grove green and gold - with brown hair no less - is a sight to get used to. Just ask her ex-Driscoll coaches in attendance Thursday night.
If 32 minutes with Lake Park is any indication, the Grenadiers are a work in progress, too.
No. 4 Elk Grove let a 16-point fourth-quarter lead slip away, before pulling out a 35-32 win at the Elk Grove/Fenton Thanksgiving Tournament in Elk Grove Village.
Lindfors hit a tiebreaking free throw with 47 seconds left, and after a Lake Park turnover Ashley Capotosto knocked down a pair of free throws. Lake Park missed three 3-pointers for the tie in the final seconds.
"A win's a win, but we let up on our intensity," Lindfors said. "We had probably the best intensity we've had at the end of the first half, and we lost it. Fortunately, we came out with a win."
Elk Grove (2-0) led 30-14 with 7:34 left after a Capotosto driving layup. The Grenadiers held Lake Park scoreless for 10:30 over the second and third quarters, for a 15-0 run.
But Tori Clark knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers for the Lancers, then fed Chelsea Gieseke for a layup to make it 30-22. Three-pointers by Clark and Alexis Hahn pulled the Lancers within 32-30, and after an Elk Grove turnover Carly Willert knocked down the tying jumper with 1:08 left.
"Tori gave us a huge spark," Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling said, "and we kept building that momentum. We just fell one play short."
"It wasn't very pretty," Elk Grove coach Ryan Kirkorsky said, "and we lost our composure down the stretch a little bit. I feel pretty fortunate to get away with the win."
With the addition of the 6-foot-4 Lindfors, committed to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to the 6-foot Capotosto, a St. Bonaventure recruit, Elk Grove can expect to see its share of junk defenses this year.
Lake Park didn't disappoint.
A 3-2 matchup zone forced 20 Grenadiers turnovers. Lindfors had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks and Capotosto 12 points. Maggie Fries came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers.
"With the two of them you know every night you're going to see a different type of defense that you try to prepare for in practice," Kirkorsky said. "It's going to take us some time to look smooth, with all those adjustments during a game."
Clark scored 9 points and Gieseke 8 for the Lancers (0-2) - who find themselves getting used to life without a Division I post player with Samantha Arnold now at Michigan.
"We had a good game plan to try to do the best we can on their post players," Fruehling said. "The second quarter we got a little flat offensively and defensively, and that carried over to the third quarter."