Fenwick frustrates Maine West

For the first half of Tuesday’s 29th annual Dundee-Crown Christmas Classic quarterfinal against Fenwick, Maine West was able to hang around with the defending tournament champions.

In the second half, however, any hopes of a second straight upset vanished as the Friars pulled away for an 80-41 win over the Warriors.

Maine West (4-10) will play Evanston at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the consolation bracket.

Maine West used an 8-2 run in the first quarter to take a 10-7 lead. But soon after, Fenwick went on a run of its own to take the lead for good.

Fenwick led 40-26 at halftime before scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter. The Friars finished with a 26-6 scored edge in the period.

Brittany Collins led Maine West with 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half. Collins said that the Fenwick press caused problems.

“Their press is really hard to break, and we lost all of our momentum,” Collins said. “We could have broken it every time, but we weren’t passing well. We practice it — we just weren’t doing what we were supposed to do.”

Maine West coach Derril Kipp said the pressure got to his players.

“It’s the mental part of the game,” Kipp added. “Kids have to listen, and when they don’t listen, they make mistakes. We told them exactly how to do things and when you don’t do them, that’s what happens. It got out of hand really quickly and that was the game.”

Ashley Collins added 10 points as Maine West only shot 1 free throw.

Jade Owens scored 18 points to lead Fenwick while Meredith Boardman added 13 points and Marek Burchett had 11 as Fenwick made 10 3-pointers.

Fenwick next meets New Trier in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in a battle of the two teams that have won the last seven Dundee-Crown Christmas Classic championships.