West Chicago wins Oswego East tourney
Claire Monroe and her West Chicago teammates have learned a few things this season and are hoping to carry the lessons over into the new year.
The Wildcats learned this week that they're good enough to claim a tournament championship, something they wrapped up with a 44-35 defeat of Lemont in Wednesday's title game of the Wolves Winter Classic at Oswego East.
West Chicago (11-4) also learned it can win even when forward Jessica Baids is held to a single field goal - one night after scoring 25 points in the tourney semifinals. Monroe, who led the way with 13 points and 4 steals, also learned something about the Wolves Classic awards, that is that they hand out an MVP award each year.
"We expected to be much better than last year, but we didn't know we'd have this much success," Monroe said, after being named the MVP at Oswego East. "We're getting a taste of successfulness and we want to take it into next year."
With the 11-4 Indians playing a tough defensive style, Lemont led 6-5 after one quarter before 7 second-quarter turnovers helped the Wildcats take a 15-12 lead at the half. The Wildcats then built the lead to 25-19 after three quarters and led by as many as 8 in the fourth quarter before Lemont made a late charge.
When the Indians' all-tourney performer Alexandra Prasauskas drained a 3-pointer with 2:34 left to play, the West Chicago lead was trimmed to 34-32. But the Wildcats came right down and answered with a 3 from Monroe, who took a kick-out pass from Baids and nailed the biggest shot of the night.
"They hit that 3 to get within 2, but then Claire came right down and got us a 3," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "It's been quite a while since we won (a tourney). I thought we continued to play better as the week went on, and we're happy with where we're at."
Baids, who joined Monroe on the all-tourney team, finished with 4 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, while Mary Connolly added 8 points off the bench and Izzy Bruce and Katie Staiton each had 6 points for the balanced Wildcats.
"It's real exciting. We looked forward to this championship, and now that we have it, it feels even better," Monroe said. "I had no idea I'd be MVP. I didn't even know they had one. But it was a big honor and really cool."
Lemont coach Bill Bozue was impressed with Monroe's play.
"I don't think we were at the top of our game," he said. "But a lot of it was their defense. And their point guard, Claire Monroe, does a nice job of running things out there for them."