Maine West gets message
Maine West senior Amanda Hoye said coach Derril Kipp made sure his players knew the importance of Friday night’s Central Suburban North girls basketball game in Northbrook.
Hoye then helped make sure the Warriors would play with that sense of importance.
The 5-foot-6 guard struck for a career-high five 3-pointers and 25 points while Warriors sophomore center Brittany Collins pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds with 11 points in a 53-40 victory over Glenbrook North.
The victory gave the Warriors (6-12, 4-1) a half-game lead over the Spartans (14-5, 4-2) and Niles North (9-9, 3-1) in the CSL North.
“The point guard is the key to every team,” Kipp said. “Amanda played well and shot well. Brittany (11 points) is a quality player, too.
“Earlier in the season, if Amanda and Brittany didn’t score, we were in trouble. And if they both did all the scoring, we were still in trouble. Now we are getting other people scoring and rebounding.”
Juniors Ashley Collins, Alexia Prosperi, Bridget Burger and Taylor Iaculla, and sophomore Julia Huinker combined for 17 points to help the Warriors maintain their momentum from a solid showing at the Dundee-Crown tournament.
“The girls played pretty well at Dundee-Crown and that gave them some confidence,” Kipp said.
Hoye was a confident player for all of her 29 minutes on the floor as she also collected 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. She fell 1 point shy of her career-high 26 points against Deerfield.
Her first 3-pointer to start the second quarter allowed the Warriors to double the Spartan’s score at 16-8.
Hoye really went to work in the second half, starting out with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers which put West ahead 38-22 with 3:51 left in the third quarter.
“Amanda Hoye killed us,” said Spartans coach Renee Brosnan. “You would think that after three 3-pointers we would adjust but we didn’t. We knew we needed players to step up on her but she still had a ton of open looks.”
Hoye even made Glenbrook North pay when it fouled her on a long-range shot.
With 2.8 seconds left in the third period, she went to the line for 3 free throws and hit them all, giving West a 44-26 lead after three quarters.
“She had the hot hand,” said Brittany Collins, who had the hot hands on the boards. “Amanda kept making everything so it was good for her to keep shooting.”
Burger, who made her first career conference start in place of Megan John (ankle injury), collected 6 rebounds and 4 assists, a couple in which she passed off to Hoye for 3-pointers.
“I know I have a big role to fill but my teammates are so supportive and I know they always have my back,” said Burger, a 5-4 guard. “We like to get the ball to someone when they have a hot hand and have them keep firing.”
Ashley Collins pulled down 7 rebounds while Prosperi had 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
“They definitely outrebounded us,” Brosnan said. “That was the big difference in the first half. We needed to box out and didn’t do much better in the second half. Maine West is a good team but it was not a pretty game for us. Pretty ugly. I hope we learn from it.”
The Spartans went 9-1 in their tournament games this season, winning the Snowflake at St. Viator and taking third at Mundelein’s Thanksgiving tourney.
The Spartans were without starting point guard Rachel Dress, a 5-5 junior who suffered a concussion against Deerfield on Tuesday.
“But our other girls did a great job stepping up,” said Brosnan, whose team was led by senior forward Gracie Sanchez (14 points).