Dineen, Stevenson zone in on Hersey
The zone defense played by the Stevenson girls basketball team was tough for Hersey to solve on Saturday afternoon at the Maine West-Tip Off Classic.
The Patriots were in another kind of zone, too, for the five games of the Thanksgiving tourney — a winning zone.
For the second time in his three seasons as the Patriots coach, Tom Dineen guided his team to the championship with a perfect record.
Saturday’s 31-22 triumph over the defending Mid-Suburban East champions (3-4, 3-2) gave the Patriots a 5-0 record in the Tipoff Classic and 6-1 overall.
Junior Alex Elzinga, who scored the Pats’ first 6 points, and senior Olivia Whalen both finished with 10 points to lead the Patriots. Their effort capped a tough stretch against the likes of Zion-Benton and Marian Catholic with positive results for Stevenson.
“This is the third tough game we’ve had in three nights,” said Dineen, who is 14-1 overall in the Tip-Off Classic, including second place last year at 4-1. “These kids were tired but they found enough with their outstanding defensive play.
“Yeah, we had a lack of offense, but the girls were tired. They made some good decisions with the basketball at the end and kept the lead with some big baskets.”
Whalen, who started the Pats’ first five games, came off the bench and got her team two quick baskets — a 16-footer and fastbreak layup on a pass from tourney MVP Katie Batman (7 points) for a 25-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
“I refer a little to Olivia as instant offense,” Dineen said. “She gives us some quick offense when we need it. And she was very accepting of her role off the bench.”
Hersey got to within 27-20 on a 3-pointer by Jen Hall before Whalen connected for another 16-footer and 29-20 lead with 2:44 left.
“It felt good to come in and get two baskets real fast because my shooting had been off,” Whalen said.
“Defensively, we tried to shut down No. 42 (Maggie Hogen) and No. 2 (Hall). We knew No. 42 could hurt us with the 3s and we knew No. 42 was real tough on the inside.”
Hogen had Hersey’s only 2-point basket in the game — a 15-footer from the baseline that brought Hersey to within 13-11 with 2:51 left in the first half.
Batman answered with a 3-pointer to send Stevenson into the break leading 16-11.
“Their zone kept us from scoring inside,” said Hogen, who was the tourney’s top rebounder with 64 and a second-team all-tourney selection. “We didn’t get the ball inside enough.
“We had such a good offensive game on Friday (a 73-68 win over Crane). Then we had a such a good defensive game (Saturday). Now we’ve got to put the two together.”
“They (Stevenson) have a very good offensive players,” added Hall, a first-team all-tourney pick who scored 12 points Saturday with 4 3-pointers. “We are bummed we lost, but now we start to look forward to conference.”
Hersey senior guard Corinne Busby handed out a tourney-high 29 assists and hit a 3-pointer to end Stevenson’s 6-0 run to start the game.
Batman (tourney-high 69 points and 12 3-pointers), senior Julia Dabrowski (the tourney’s top shot-blocker with 22) and junior Kari Moffat were first-team all-tourney picks for Stevenson.
Moffat, a junior guard, has started in the past three Tip-Off Classics.
“Our big focus was defense,” Moffat said. “We knew the points would come if we could just play tough in our zone defense.”
The Pats will play again on Tuesday at Prospect.
“I really like how we’ve been playing — the girls deserve a rest,” Dineen said. “It doesn’t get any easier with Prospect and Libertyville coming up.
“We are not fancy. We keep it simple. It was just a great team effort on both ends of the floor. We come here for the competition. We get to play some real good teams. To return only one starter (Moffat) and still be successful against the quality of teams here speaks volumes about these girls.”