Kaneland comes through late vs. South Elgin
The winner's bracket never felt so good.
Tesa Alderman led a dominating effort by Kaneland's bench, Emily Heimerdinger was in the center of perfect free-throw shooting in the closing minutes, and for the first time in five years of coming to the Oswego East Winter Classic the Knights will play in the winner's bracket Tuesday.
Kaneland (7-7) and South Elgin (3-8) traded the lead 15 times — eight in the fourth quarter — before Heimerdinger's 2 free throws gave the Knights the lead for good with 3:28 remaining. Kaneland made 10 of 10 at the line in the fourth quarter of its 59-55 victory that puts the Knights in the quarterfinals at noon Tuesday against No. 2 seed Addison Trail, a 46-23 winner over Plainfield Central.
“That's clutch,” Knights assistant coach Tom Dillivan said of Heimerdinger's 6-of-6 shooting at the line in the final quarter. “We had some seniors come through there at the end. That's what we expect from those girls.”
Dillivan filled in for head coach Ernie Colombe (flu). He said the main thing he had to get the Knights to do was slow the pace against the Storm and star Becca Smith (26 points).
“Just trying to keep it calm,” Dillivan said. “When we play with patience we're a really good ballclub. When we get going too fast like anybody else we start taking bad shots, we start throwing the ball away.”
South Elgin freshman Savanah Uveges scored the first four points of the game and Kelsey Prince hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left in the first quarter to tie the game at 13.
The second of Alderman's three 3-pointers put the Knights ahead 16-13 and they stayed in front at halftime (28-22) and most of the third quarter, leading 41-37 after three.
Alderman scored a team-high 12 points, part of the Knights' 28-6 bench scoring advantage. Kaneland's bench also grabbed 21 rebounds led by 6 from Trinae Coachman who was playing in her first game since an ankle injury in the season opener.
“Our bench has always been strong,” Alderman said. “We give the team an extra explosion if we don't have it. Today we worked as a team more than we normally do. It was really good to see.”
Smith started the fourth quarter with a steal and layup, one of her seven steals in the game. Lania Robinson followed with a 3-pointer to put the Storm ahead 42-41, the first of eight lead changes in a four-minute stretch until Heimerdinger's free throws gave Kaneland a 51-50 advantage they didn't lose.
Robinson followed her own miss for a South Elgin basket and scored 2 other buckets in that span while Kaneland countered with two short jumpers from Nicki Ott, a key stickback from freshman Marina Schaefer and the clutch free-throw shooting.
“Each time they made a run at us we found a way to get a shot up and get the ball in,” Dillivan said. “That came off patience. Any time we can play under control we have a much better chance.”
Trailing 57-50, Smith made a 3-pointer with 15 seconds to go and a drive with 9 seconds left but Kaneland countered with 4 free throws by Heimerdinger to hold onto the win.
“Early morning game and you kind of figure you will be a little lethargic,” South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast said. “Today we didn't do a good job defensively. We've been working on rebounding all year, that's our weakness.”
Kelly Evers added 11 points for the Knights, their only starter in double figures. Andie Strang and Ott both added 8 points.
Robinson scored 9 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter for South Elgin. The Storm will play Plainfield Central at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Until they figure out they want to rebound we might not win another game,” Prendergast said. “It doesn't matter who you are playing. I think we have as much talent as anybody in this tournament but they don't want to box out and get physical. It's kind of frustrating. It's the same pattern night in and night out.”