Geneva races to 17-3 lead, wins showdown at Willowbrook

Geneva's girls basketball program is long past the point of needing to prove itself, yet that didn't stop the Vikings from savoring a 66-61 victory over Hillcrest Saturday at the 20th annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook a little more than most.

"It's a great win for us," Vikings coach Gina Nolan said. "I think even though we've been ranked, even though we have been undefeated, there's still been doubters out there about who we are as a program and who we are as a team. We just looked at this game as an opportunity to show people what Geneva basketball is about. Hopefully some people took notice today."

No doubt they did, especially the way the Vikings won. They never trailed against Hillcrest (17-2), the state's third-ranked team in Class 3A, opening an 11-0 lead to start the game.

Geneva (20-0) won its 47th straight regular season game while snapping the Hawks' 17-game win streak. The Vikings beat the Hawks at Hillcrest's own up-tempo, pressure-filled game.

"It was a really aggressive game," Geneva senior Lauren Wicinski said. "They came out fighting and so did we."

Four of Geneva's five starters reached double figures, giving the Vikings the balance they needed to overcome DePaul-bound Uniquah Hampton's 31 points.

The teams played at a furious pace, with Hillcrest taking 79 shots and Geneva 64. The Vikings turned the ball over 23 times, a number that would have been significantly higher without solid ballhandling from Sammy Scofield, Ashley Santos and especially Kat Yelle.

Geneva countered the turnovers by shooting much better (45.3 percent to 30.3) and battling the Hawks to a 42-42 draw on the boards. Wicinski led with a career-high 20 rebounds, Santos grabbed 9 and Yelle and Kelsey Augustine 5 each.

"We all came out real hard and kept our mindsets up," Santos said. "We kept putting pressure on everybody. We just kept trying to stay together and stay strong and never let them overpower us."

The first quarter couldn't have gone better. Geneva forced 9 turnovers, Wicinski established control inside with 9 rebounds, Hillcrest made just 1 of 18 shots and the Vikings led 17-3.

"I was really pleased with the way we played early," Nolan said. "Got good looks on the offensive end and I thought we were breaking their pressure real well."

The only problem was two fouls whistled on Augustine, Santos and Yelle. With Yelle on the bench to start the second quarter, Hillcrest forced two quick turnovers to ignite a 9-0 run and pull within 17-12.

Nolan put Yelle back in the lineup, and the Ohio-bound junior quickly began weaving her way through Hillcrest's press. Geneva scored 10 of the next 12 points, forcing Hillcrest into a timeout down 27-14. At that point Geneva had outscored the Hawks 27-5 with Yelle on the court. Geneva's lead stood at 31-19 at halftime.

"I thought Kat handled the defensive pressure incredibly well," Nolan said.

A huge following of blue-clad fans cheered on Geneva's every move, no roar louder than a twisting, spinning Santos layup on a pretty pass from Schofield that also drew a foul. That play put the Vikings ahead 48-31 late in the third quarter, and when Scofield scored on Yelle's assist, the Vikings had their biggest lead of the game, 54-36.

Hillcrest didn't go without a fight. The Hawks outscored Geneva 23-9 over the next six minutes.

Even during that run Geneva made some key plays to maintain their lead. Yelle drove for a basket - her first of the second half - and Wicinski found a cutting Augustine for another inside score.

Hampton kept bringing the Hawks closer, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter. When the Vikings committed one of their 8 fourth-quarter turnovers that Ali Samirah converted into 2 points, Hillcrest was within 63-59 with a minute remaining.

Santos and Hampton traded baskets, and after a Geneva double-dribble, the Hawks had possession down 65-61. Santos did a good job denying Hampton the ball, and Jacquenae Foster's 3-pointer missed everything. Yelle added one more free throw with 27 seconds left, and after the Hawks' 16th turnover the Vikings ran out the clock - and took a well-deserved sigh of relief.

"I wouldn't say we got worried, it just got a little more tense," Wicinski said.

Santos led Geneva with 16 points, Yelle scored 15, Scofield 14 and Wicinski 11.

"It was a lot of fun today," Scofield said. "We just pushed it and tried our hardest to play as a team.

"We were pretty confident. We knew they were a good team, they could come back at any minute so we had to keep our intensity up."