Cunningham paces Lakes' triumph
Ashlee Cunningham scored 13 points, pacing Lakes' girls basketball team to a 52-32 win over Woodstock in opening-round action of the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic at Woodstock on Friday night.
"Ashlee not only was the game high scorer in this physical game, but she did a great job on the boards," Eagles coach Pete Schneider said. "Ashlee has great quickness and great anticipation. She is a very smart player."
Lakes freshman Marissa Merges got her first start and had 10 points.
"What a great game for her," Schneider said. "She did a great job. She moves very well for a 6-footer. It's great to see her improvement this year. It is starting to come together for her."
Nicole Mogged added 9 points for Lakes (4-6), which struggled from the foul line again, going 16 of 27.
"We made them at the end but really need to focus a little more," Schneider said.
"Amanda Smith handled the ball extremely well. She is hard to handle and Woodstock had no answer for her ballhandling. She pretty much broke the press break alone and found the open player in the frontcourt."
Woodstock was led by Cody Brand with 11 points.
Rockford Jefferson 39, Wauconda 26: At Marengo, the Bulldogs dropped their tournament opener, despite 8 points from Melissa Latham.
Grayslake North 53, Richmond-Burton 47: At Richmond-Burton, the Knights' tournament-opening victory hiked their winning streak to seven games.
Grayslake North improved to 7-3.
Schaumburg 40, Barrington 39 (OT): Senior Alyssa Saklak's free throw with six seconds left was the difference as visiting Schaumburg improved to 4-6 and 2-1 in the MSL West.
Junior guard Amanda Kelly had the other 3 point for Schaumburg in the extra session while Barrington (5-6, 1-2) got a basket from senior Abby Taplett and a free throw from junior Maddie Bartz.
"We didn't play fundamental sound basketball until the fourth quarter," said Fillies coach Babbi Barreiro. "Our defense wasn't that good in the first half. We didn't box out. A lot of time we haven't stepped up until the second half and we have to address that."
The Saxons were led by Saklak (13 points), Kelly (7), Kelly Skorczewski (6) and Gabby Blackwell (6).
Nicole Collins paced the Fillies with 12 points followed by Bartz (7) and Brooke Gunderson (7).
Gunderson hit a 16-footer with under a minute to go to send the game to OT. Angie Kirchoff also had a big 3-pointer for Barrington to get the Fillies to within 2 points in the fourth quarter.
"It was a good competitive game and we made a nice comeback," said Barreiro, whose team shot 19 percent in the first half and 33 in the second. "But we have to understand we have to play all four quarters. It's a tough lesson we are learning."
Buffalo Grove 44, Wheeling 42: The Bison (2-9, 1-2) got their first win in the MSL East as junior Bailey North clicked for a game-high 14 points. Emily Cho added 10 for the Bison and Becca Appelt 8. Kellie Kuzmanic (10 rebounds) and Hailey Dammeier (3 rebounds) led the Wildcats (1-11, 0-3) with 10 points apiece.