Kaneland's slow start too much to overcome

With just one senior on varsity, Kaneland understandably is going through more than its share of growing pains this season.

The Knights suffered a few more in the first half Thursday against Yorkville before also showing there is also some light at the end of the tunnel.

After managing just 9 first-half points, Kaneland came alive with a 20-point third quarter, yet found itself in too big of hole in a 49-40 loss.

"Tonight we didn't play well but I thought we played hard," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "All we can do is keep working. All these girls are good kids."

The Knights (2-9, 0-4) not only struggled at the free-throw line, sinking 5 of 15, they were 4 of 21 from the field in the first half - many misses on close shots that they expected to drop.

"We missed a lot of shots from two or three feet from the basket," Colombe said. "We talked about how frustrating that is because you feel good about the shot you are getting and then you miss it and the air comes out of the balloon. Then enviably you come back down the court and mentally you are out of it and you give up an easy bucket on the other end."

Yorkville (4-6, 2-2) put three players in double figures, led by Clair Bush off the bench with 13 points. Kaneland's lone senior, Mallory Carlson, topped all scorers with 15 points - 10 in the third quarter when the Knights more than doubled their first-half production.

The Knights continued their push early in the fourth quarter, cutting the Foxes' lead to 34-30 when Carlson split free throws with 6:44 remaining. That was the closest the game had been since midway through the first quarter, but the Foxes ended Kaneland's comeback bid with the next 9 points for a 43-30 cushion.

"We tried to play a defense that gets out in the passing lanes and disrupt their offense," Yorkville coach Tim Peters said. "They didn't get a lot of good looks at the basket."

Yorkville bounced back from an 82-20 loss to Geneva two nights earlier.

"They (the Vikings) are tough," Peters said. "You make a little mistake and it is a layup and they just keep coming and keep coming and keep coming at you. We knew we weren't going to face another Geneva, we knew we could be in this game and we should be able to do it. We've been real up and down. We played real well against Batavia and turned around and lost to Sycamore."

Freshman Emma Bradford added 8 points and 7 rebounds for the Knights.