Kaneland surprises Addison Trail
New day, new star (or two) and a new upset leads to a new place for the Kaneland girls basketball team to be at the Oswego East Winter Classic.
Seniors Andie Strang and Nicki Ott both scored career highs and the Knights shot 52 percent from the field to beat No. 2 seed Addison Trail 64-52 and secure a spot in Wednesday's semifinals.
Kaneland (8-7) will play No. 3 Andrew at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, two wins away from a tournament championship for a team coming off a 5-23 season in 2009. Andrew defeated Plainfield North 70-66.
“It's huge for us. I'm excited to hopefully make it to the championship,” said Ott, who led another strong effort by the Kaneland bench with 18 points.
“We have no main scorers. Usually it switches off game by game. I think we've started working as a team and our confidence got boosted by that.”
Addison Trail (7-6), playing without coach Rob Schader (sick), led briefly in the first quarter. Ott scored 8 straight points in the second quarter as the Knights opened a 30-15 lead.
Kaneland wound up with 22 points in the quarter on 10-of-16 shooting to grab a 36-27 halftime lead.
“We've been shooting the ball better,” said Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe, who returned after missing Monday's game with the flu. “I thought we shot the ball really well today. We hit some big shots when we needed them.”
The Trail Blazers made a charge early in the third quarter, pulling within 38-37 on JoAnn DiNatale's 3-pointer that ended a 22-8 run.
Kaneland immediately answered on Emily Heimerdinger's 3-pointer. Strang drilled another 3 and drove for a basket to help restore a 50-41 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“They made some tough shots today, some really tough shots,” said Addison Trail assistant Cory Little. “I give it to them. They played well.”
After making 10 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter of Monday's win over South Elgin, the Knights weren't quite as sharp but still knocked down 6 of 10 Tuesday to keep the Trail Blazers at a safe distance. DiNatale's 3 pulled Addison Trail within 59-52 with two minutes to go, the closest they got.
Strang scored 11 points in both halves for her career-best 22. She made four 3-pointers.
“Andie stepped up,” Colombe said. “Any time you can get 40 points from two players you have to be pleased.”
“It was really cool, the team could see (I was hot) and worked together to get me the ball and then when they closed out on me I could find them,” Strang said. “I think we just worked really well together.”
After outscoring South Elgin's bench 28-6 Monday the Knights were at it again with 26 bench points. They also won the rebounding battle 36-29 with another reserve, freshman Marina Schaefer, snagging 8 boards.
Ott scored her 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
“Especially once the rest of my team starts scoring too it gives me the confidence I can score too,” Ott said. “When we work together and have good passes it seems to all flow together.”
Marissa Pezzopane scored 15 of her team-high 21 points in the first half. DiNatale added 15.
“We knew we could play with them,” Little said. “They are a good basketball team. We were in a hurry to get a shot up instead of taking our time like we normally do. We didn't do the little things we do every day in practice and it showed today.”