Geneva picks up where it left off
New season, new uniforms, a few new players - everything else was the same old Geneva.
The Vikings took the court for the first time since losing the Class 4A third-place game last March and started another season of fastbreaking, uptempo basketball with a 73-26 win over outmanned Lakes Saturday at the Vikings' 22nd annual Thanksgiving tournament.
Geneva coach Gina Nolan went to her bench early and often, getting 14 players extended playing time. Eleven of them scored, led by junior guard Kat Yelle's 14.
Yelle scored on three layups off Lakes turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. Geneva led 8-0 at that point and extended the advantage to 20-4 after one quarter, 47-10 at halftime and 68-20 after three.
"It felt great being on the court again," said Yelle, an Ohio University commit. "Nothing is really different. We all like to run and gun. We know where all of us are on the court."
Nolan called off her press with 5:29 left in the second quarter with the Eagles struggling just to get past half-court. Geneva's starters weren't on the court long, just 13 of the 32 minutes. That was enough time for each to make an impact.
After coming off the bench last year, junior Sam Scofield moved into the starting lineup and scored 8 points to go with 3 assists and 2 steals. Post players Lauren Wicinski and Kelsey Augustine combined for 16 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots.
And sophomore Ashley Santos, in her first game since transferring from Bartlett, did a little of everything with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block.
"First-game jitters, they weren't too bad," Santos said. "I loved it. It was a lot of fun just finally being able to play with them felt really good. The girls are great, I love playing with them."
About the only thing that went wrong for Geneva was its foul shooting, just 4 of 15 in the first half. Yelle missed all four attempts, including an air ball, though even the misses turned into points with Wicinski (12 points, 11 rebounds) snatching several for putback baskets.
"I don't know what was going on," Yelle said. "I was making them all in the shootaround. Just an off-day I guess."
Once Nolan turned to her bench she received several more strong performances, led by Myra Yelle's 10 points, 6 from Sam Dudman and Brook Binette and 4 by Dori Rogers.
"I thought we played really good team basketball," Nolan said. "I though Lauren and Kelsey did a great job on the boards early, we had 4 or 5 looks at the basket on a couple possessions. I'm happy with the turnovers we forced."
Lakes (0-1), in just its fourth year with a varsity team, was led by Jennifer Totten's 8 points. The Eagles also have a new coach, Pete Schneider, who could have asked for an easier opening assignment in his debut.
"They are extremely quick. They are a good team, a great team, the best team on our schedule," Schneider said. "We have a lot of stuff to work on but we'll get back at it. I liked the fact our kids didn't give up. They stayed after it. You only get better by playing better teams."
Geneva 73, Lakes 26
Lakes - Totten 2 2-2 6, Osuma 1 0-0 2, Parmly 4 0-0 8, Bloomfield 2 0-0 4, Christiansen 1 0-0 2, Bihnser 0 0-4 0, Molloy 2 0-0 4. Totals: 12 2-6 26.
Geneva - Pease 1 0-0 2. M. Yelle 4 1-2 10, K. Yelle 7 0-4 14, Scofield 4 0-0 8, Rogers 2 0-0 4, Santos 2 0-0 4, Wicinski 5 2-4 12, Machack 0 1-4 1, Augustine 2 0-0 4, Binette 2 2-2 6, Dudman 2 2-2 6. Totals: 32 8-20 73.
Lakes 4 6 10 6 -26
Geneva 20 27 21 5 -73
3-point baskets: G: M. Yelle.