Lisle slips into IEC tie
It was a contest for the top spot in the Interstate Eight Conference, but in the end it was no contest.
Peotone overcame a strong Lisle start to hand the Lions a 48-34 defeat, their first conference loss of the season, in Lisle on Thursday night.
It was a disappointing result for Lisle coach Dan Murray, who saw his team drop into a tie for first place with two games to play.
"We're a spurt basketball team," Murray said. "We don't put 32 minutes together and we just make way too many mental mistakes to compete at this level against very good basketball teams. That's plain and simple what it comes down to."
Lisle (16-9, 8-1) led 13-9 after the first quarter, but Peotone took an 18-17 lead with 2:17 to play in the second quarter on Julia Perri's basket and led 21-18 at halftime.
But like in the second quarter, the Lions couldn't get anything going offensively in the third quarter. They fell behind 33-22 on Kayce Nagel's basket down low with 1:33 left in the period.
Lisle cut the margin down to 6 points early in the fourth quarter, but Peotone responded to keep the Lions at bay.
"You put yourself in a position where you're playing for first place in the conference, and you're not going to beat the elite teams in the conference, or any elite teams like we have with the Walthers, Timothy, etc., Westmont making the kinds of mistakes and breakdowns that we do," Murray said. "I'm not talking about one physical mistake. The missed layups, the missed free throws, that stuff is going to happen. The mental stuff can't happen at this level if this team wants to be an elite-level basketball team."
Nagel finished with a season-high 21 points. She also blocked 3 shots.
"She throughout the season has been getting closer and closer to this point," Peotone coach Steve Strough said of his 5-foot-10 junior. "She's a big girl and we wanted her to start finishing with the basketball, and she did."
Sophomore Kristina Fernette led the Lions with 9 points, and center Darian Payne added 7 points and 10 rebounds. Shelby Kretman also scored 7 points.
"We've got to decide if we want to battle back," Murray said, "or if we're just going to drop down to fourth place in this conference."