Bartlett rolls again
The Bartlett Hawks’ girls basketball team continued to dominate in the annual tip-off tournament at Naperville Central Saturday.
The Hawks (3-0) defeated the Rockford Auburn Lady Knights 79-27 a day after a 70-point win over North Chicago.
Bartlett’s offense came out strong, scoring 20 points in the first quarter, but it was the defensive efforts that made head coach Denise Sarna happy with the way her team performed.
“I thought we did a little better of a job defensively (than Friday’s game against North Chicago),” said Sarna. “(Rockford Auburn) had some pretty good players on their team that we had to battle, and they did a good job with the interior game. It forced us to play physical, and we did a good job with that. We had some really good rebounding.”
The rebounding was indeed there for the Hawks, as senior Haley Videckis finished with 7 boards while senior guard Katie Gutzwiller had 5 and senior Kristin Conniff notched 4. Conniff also put up a team-high 19 points, including three 3-pointers, while Videckis tallied 14 points. Gutzweller notched 15 points for the Hawks; and after not seeing many minutes last season, is happy to have her turn to help the team win.
“I have been working hard and just doing what I can do best,” said Gutzwiller. “I do my best out there and everything is paying off.”
Gutzwiller knows that the tip-off tournament is a challenge every year, but she knows her team will always be focused and ready.
“Whenever we play teams like (Rockford Auburn), we just all step up and try our best,” said Gutzwiller. “We just all come together and focus on what coach is telling us, and focus on what we need to do.”
The Hawks continued to play well on both sides of the ball in the second half, going on a 12-0 run to end the third quarter. The Bartlett defense would hold Rockford Auburn to just 6 points in the fourth quarter.
Gutzwiller isn’t surprised that her team is off to the 3-0 start.
“We play really well together,” she said. “Everyone just does what they do and sticks to the game plan, and we’ve been coming out with a win.”
Things will get tougher next week for Bartlett when it faces Naperville Central, Metea Valley and Benet as the tournament continues.