Barger's all-around game lifts Warren

It's been a rough week, perhaps more mentally than physically, for the Warren Blue Devils' girls basketball team. Taking final exams and playing games three straight days isn't their average week.

Amanda Barger, among others, passed the basketball portion of her testing with high marks Wednesday night. Her unselfish hard work got all of her teammates involved, and the Blue Devils aced their third victory in four games with a 45-36 triumph over visiting Carmel in the Blue Devil Classic in Gurnee.

Barger scored 9 points and contributed 8 rebounds, 6 steals, 6 assists and a couple of blocks.

"A lot of players can't see the whole floor," Barger said. "I'm good at seeing everyone and I'm good at reading defensive players' eyes. I'd rather be the one to get the assists and be a team player."

Late in the third quarter with Warren holding a 24-23 lead, Barger helped the Blue Devils (6-8) to an 8-2 run, which Alexis Leneau (10 points) capped by canning a 3-pointer for a 32-25 advantage heading into the final quarter.

"We reminded them how they were playing, and how they were playing defensively," said Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz. "We got some steals, a layup, a short jumper that finally was able to go in. We were able to build the lead and refocus."

The Blue Devils went on to take control over the final quarter.

Warren had a 24-14 lead at the halftime break and came out flat, not finding the basket for a six-minute stretch.

'We haven't been up by 10 many times this season," Stanczykiewicz said. "It was a different look. We did come out flat, but give a lot of credit to Carmel, who played harder and better than us."

Carmel scored 9 straight points in the third quarter and trailed Warren by 1 point. Beth Scudder scored 6 of her team-high 11 points during that stretch.

"We did cut it 1 and chipped away," Carmel coach Kelly Perz said. "We just need to play a complete game. We go on runs of four to five minutes where we're great on defense and aggressive on offense. Then for the other three minutes, we're just not there. We need to play 32 minutes of solid basketball."

Cassie Christie led the Blue Devils with 11 points.

Warren will host Grayslake Central (13-2, 4-0) in tonight's championship game at 7:30 p.m., while Carmel will face Palatine for third at 6 p.m.