Quick start helps Hoffman Estates past Addison Trail
At the end of Monday night’s girls basketball regional quarterfinal game at Addison Trail between Hoffman Estates and the hosts, the Hawks found themselves preparing to play another day. Meanwhile, the Blazers gave a hint of what could be in the 2012-13 season.
Hoffman Estates, seeded 14th in their own sectional, blew the game open in the first half, leading 30-11 at intermission en route to a 64-45 victory over 17th-seeded Addison Trail.
The Hawks (12-16) face third-seeded Wheaton Warrenville South at 6 p.m. in the first semifinal at Addison Trail, followed by Wheaton North (6) against Glenbard North (11) at 8:10 p.m.
“We played good tonight. We need to do it the same way tomorrow,” said Hoffman Estates junior Destinee Young, who nailed a game-high 30 points, 23 of which came in the second half.
AT finishes the season at 10-17, but showed more life on offense in the second half, tying Hoffman for points scored with 34 each. Two seniors — Joann Dinatale (11 points, nine coming in second half) and Marissa Pezzopane (10 second half points) — did the bulk of the scoring, but there was strong play from players that return next season such as juniors Claudia Denigris and Kelsey Horvath. Both hit for two 3-point baskets in the second half when the momentum was in AT’s favor for a good portion of the time.
“We came out slow and I didn’t know why. They know it’s one loss and you’re done,” said Blazers coach Rob Schader. “But I’m excited about the future. We have a lot of kids back. We might not be world beaters, but we’ll play hard.”
Hoffman Estates shot just 5-for-16 from the field in the opening quarter but led 13-2 at the end of the first eight minutes, helped by 7 Blazers turnovers.
The Hawks improved to 7-of-14 from the field in the second quarter while the Blazers managed just 3-of-8 and Hoffman Estates was able to open the big intermission lead.
Young said her team wasn’t going to let up in the third quarter.
“We definitely in the second half wanted to make a push because we knew they would try and come out strong,” she said.
Hoffman Estates coach Mike Nocella said he was pleased generally with what he saw of his squad.
“We were very solid,” he said. “We were a little bit slow early on, but once we started to make our shots, we were able to pull away.”
Sophomore Becca Stoczynski had 14 points for the Hawks and a game-high 11 rebounds. Young pulled down 8 rebounds and Sara Burns contributed 11 points.