West Aurora wins consolation title
Lexi Nelson and her West Aurora teammates have found the cure to their season-long malady.
After dropping 11 consecutive games to start the season, the Blackhawks' girls basketball team was a completely different unit over the last three days of the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic at Wheaton North.
Employing a punishing defense, unrelenting energy off the offensive glass and the maturation of Nelson, West Aurora stormed to the consolation title with a 44-40 victory over Lyons Township on Thursday.
After back-to-back 20-plus outings in the Blackhawks' first two wins of the year, Nelson, hampered by foul trouble in the first half, scored all 10 of her points after the intermission to seal the top consolation prize at the 16-team tournament.
"(Nelson) has turned up her game," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. "She is just being a leader."
"When I'm hot from the outside, I like to take it to the basket," Nelson said of her outside-inside approach. "(I try to) make each player look great. We have each others' backs."
Lyons (6-8) began the game with a 7-2 spurt, but the Blackhawks' suddenly revitalized defense would not allow the Lions another field goal for over 10 minutes.
Offensively, West Aurora (3-11) responded with a 22-3 burst to seize control.
The Blackhawks snared 8 offensive rebounds in the first half alone, scoring field goals on three of the second-chance opportunities while draining 15 free throws in the opening two quarters.
Many of the Blackhawks' free-throw opportunities were created off their own glass.
"We knew that West Aurora was great at crashing the glass," said Lyons coach Katie Meyers. "They were going to come in like kamikazes. You give a team 15 (made) free throws in the first half, you're going to be in trouble."
Liz Skaggs, a 5-foot-10 freshman power forward for West Aurora, had a team-high 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Seven of her points came in the first quarter, which ended with the Blackhawks leading 15-10.
"I just feel like we're playing harder," Skaggs said. "I'm just a freshman. There are five of us (on varsity). We are starting to become more accepted (by the older girls)."
Dazmine Chaney capped the Blackhawks' 7-point unanswered run to begin the second to give the team its largest lead at 22-10.
The spread was 26-19 at the break, and Nelson converted a long 3-pointer and a free throw in the third to restore the double-digit lead, 34-24, after three.
Ashanti Davis' 7 fourth-quarter points fueled Lyons' inevitable late push, but Chaney and Nelson converted both ends of bonus situations to deny the Lions a one-possession game.
Taylor Jacobsen and Royalle Brown, the Blackhawks' other starters, added 10 combined points.
"They're finally getting it," Siljendahl said. "We believe that defense wins games. I feel like we have so much potential that is being lit and waiting to explode."