Dundee-Crown falters against McAuley
Frustrated would be an ample way to describe the feelings of Dundee-Crown girls basketball coach Michelle Russell Tuesday.
After Russell’s Chargers played No. 1 Bartlett tough in Monday’s opening round of the 29th Annual Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown, they came out Tuesday and played far from what their coach expected.
“We just didn’t come to play today,” Russell said after the Chargers lost to Mother McAuley 65-45 in a consolation bracket game. “We were flat and we weren’t working as hard as we should have been. (Monday) we played tough and it takes a lot of maturity to come out and do that the next day. We didn’t do it.”
The Mighty Macs (8-6) hit Dundee-Crown with a 10-0 run to end the first quarter, which put McAuley ahead 20-8 after the first eight minutes. The Chargers (7-7) never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
“I warned them that in a tournament like this you have to come back each day with the mental intensity at a high level,” Russell said. “We didn’t do that. That’s something we’re learning and hopefully we learned something today.”
The Chargers’ worst enemy in the first half was their own ballhandling. D-C committed 18 turnovers in the first 16 minutes and fell behind 37-23 at halftime.
Dundee-Crown did come back and play a better second half, only turning the ball over six times, but the damage was done.
“We came out today and forgot to do some things that we had been doing well,” Russell said. “We made some adjustments and played better in the second half.”
Senior standout Ali Sanders continued to play well for the Chargers, leading her team with 14 points. Sophomore Emily Michalski added 10 points, while senior Diamond Williams had 8 points and 13 rebounds. D-C did outrebound the Mighty Macs 27-26, but the Chargers shot just 18 of 48 from the floor while McAuley was 24-for-43.
Alyssa Siwek led Mothern McAuley with 16 points. Elizabeth Nye had 14, Tiffany Fortune 12 and Brenna Nolan 11.
Dundee-Crown will meet Fox Valley Conference mate Johnsburg at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the third round while McAuley takes on Resurrection at 12:30 p.m.