West Chicago's Monroe passes up 1,000
Claire Monroe couldn't have picked a more fitting way to join the 1,000-point club.
The West Chicago senior drained a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter of the Wildcats' 72-50 win over Aurora Christian Tuesday at the Oswego East Winter Classic. West Chicago coach Kim Wallner called timeout and the public address announcer congratulated Monroe.
"I said that on the bench that it is kind of appropriate because that has been her best weapon," said Wallner, adding Monroe also probably has the school record for 3s.
Monroe became just the third West Chicago player to score 1,000 points. She joined all-time leading scorer Melissa Olsen (1,166 points) and Claire's sister Kelsey Monroe (1,164) who just graduated college and had teased her younger sister about the milestone.
"Last game she texted me and said five years ago today I scored my 1,000th point so she kind of rubs it in my face a little but I still got it," said Claire Monroe with a big smile. "Hopefully I can break her scoring record so I can laugh at her too."
The sharpshooting Monroe drained 3 more 3s Tuesday. She's a four-year starter who also makes an impact the defensive end.
"She's obviously been a talented player in our program," Wallner said. "She's come a long way. She does a lot for us as far as her poise and composure on the floor. Her defense on the ball is pretty darn good. I'm real happy for her. She's worked very, very hard."
Monroe finished with a game-high 20 points. She scored 8 of them in a game-opening 12-1 run as West Chicago built a 22-8 lead after the first quarter and led comfortably the rest of the game.
The Wildcats hit 9 of 16 shots from the field in the first quarter and didn't miss 50 percent by much for the game (26 of 54) while also making 15 of 20 free throws.
"We shot the ball pretty well," Wallner said. "I'm hoping we play a little better defense than what we did tonight. We can't be giving up that many points. We have to keep plugging along."
No. 3 seed West Chicago (7-4) advances to the second round against Plainfield Central at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Aurora Christian (6-7) will play East Aurora at 10:30 a.m.
Laura Panicali finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Liz Reyes came off the bench to score 12 and Allie Tapanes added 9 points for the Wildcats.
"It was definitely a team win," Monroe said. "We got contributions from everyone. Our defense we need to work on it more. Our help side is not where it needs to be."
Aurora Christian coach Jerry Tokars also was hoping for a bit better defense while crediting West Chicago for some hot shooting.
"We knew they had some shooters," Tokars said. "I thought we defended them pretty well. Even the ones we contested they dropped them."
The Eagles also had a pair of strong individual efforts from junior Mackenzie Bollinger and sophomore Alyssa Andersen.
Bollinger hustled her way to 7 steals and 10 rebounds while making 5 of 6 free throws and scoring 17 points. Andersen "had probably one of her best varsity games," according to Tokars in scoring 16 points.
"We have some slashers, we have some drivers," Tokars said. "We're still learning the finer points of that but we showed some strides. We're going to try for 3-1 (at the tourney)."