Geneva's muscle too much for South Elgin
Trouble awaited anyone getting in Lauren Wicinski's way Wednesday in the Class 4A St. Charles North regional semifinals.
South Elgin took most of the abuse, but even Wicinski's teammates weren't free from a little pain.
Wicinski's relentless 21-point, 21-rebound effort overwhelmed the Storm, sending the Vikings to a 62-36 victory and a spot in Thursday night's regional championship game.
Geneva (28-0) will play St. Charles North at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The winner advances to the Class 4A Huntley sectional Monday.
The Vikings never trailed, racing to 7-0, 13-2 and 18-5 leads in the first quarter. Ashley Santos started the scoring with a corner 3-pointer on Geneva's first possession, then Geneva did most of its damage on the offensive glass.
Geneva only hit 9 of 26 shots in the first quarter, yet still led 20-9 with 10 second-chance points. The Vikings extended their advantage to 38-22 at halftime and never led by less than 14 in the second half.
"They have a lot of firepower, they are very athletic and our biggest thing tonight is we wanted to keep them off the glass," South Elgin coach Tom Prendergast said. "Guess we didn't do that. It's easier said than done. They just killed us on the glass."
Wicinski had her double-double midway through the second quarter on a stickback that gave the Vikings a 28-13 lead. In her last four games the NIU-bound volleyball player is averaging 17.2 points and 16.8 rebounds.
"She's had a lot of games where she's had high rebounds but tonight she really finished well with the putbacks and squared up nice at the basket," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said.
About the only scare for Geneva came in the third quarter when Santos fell to the floor after taking a Wicinski elbow to her nose. Santos stayed down for about five minutes, then left the game for 6:18 before returning early in the fourth quarter. Santos suffered a bad bruise but will be fine for Thursday's game.
"I feel awful, I came down on her nose so hard," said Wicinski, who otherwise loved the intensity Geneva had from the start that quickly thwarted any thoughts the Storm had about an upset.
"We came out like this could be our last game. That's the mentality you have to come out with. You have to play your hardest and leave everything on the floor."
Geneva held South Elgin sophomore Becca Smith, who scored 26 points Monday against Batavia, to 12 points. Smith said the Vikings' 51-26 rebounding advantage deflated the Storm, particularly after they played good defense but could not clear the ball.
"It's crushing. We want to get the ball and outlet and go but they are still in there getting second and third chance opportunities," Smith said. "I think that's what really killed us today."
Santos scored 11 points for Geneva and Kat Yelle had 10, including a 360 move on a spinning layup in the third quarter. Kelsey Augustine (8 points) and Santos both added 6 rebounds.
Myra Yelle came off the bench to scrap for 2 offensive rebounds, and Geneva took its biggest lead when Katelyn Allen and Brooke Binette capped the scoring with the final 5 points.
"We hit a couple shots early and maybe that took away jitters from the first game," Nolan said. "I was really happy with that start."
Alyssa Krause led South Elgin (11-17) with 17 points. She and Smith combined for all but 7 of the Storm's points.
"We were really up and down this year," Smith said. "Next year we'll come back stronger and getting better. Looking back we could have done better but we're all going to work toward next year and go farther in the playoffs."