Aurora Central Catholic cruises to 1st sectional win
Chicago Hope hit its first two shots of the game against Aurora Central Catholic in the second semifinal of the Chicago Christian Class 2A girls basketball sectional on Tuesday night in Palos Heights.
But not much else went right for the 2003 Class A state champion Eagles for the remainder of the game.
In a theme that would continually be repeated, Aurora Central did not allow Hope to score again in the quarter.
The Chargers allowed the Eagles double figures in a quarter only once in the game, and in the process Aurora Central, which won only five games in a three-year period between 2006 and 2009, enters rarified air.
With its 58-28 dismantling of the Eagles, Aurora Central reached its first sectional final in program history.
The Chargers (23-7) face St. Francis De Sales Thursday night for a berth in the Concordia University supersectional on Monday.
Hope had its season close at 15-13.
"That was the best game we've had in a while," Aurora Central coach Mark Fitzgerald said. "They played extraordinarily well tonight."
Jackie Cardona was the glue for the Chargers on both sides of the court.
The four-year varsity member, who is within range of breaking the all-time school scoring mark, was a tour de force bridging the third and fourth quarters.
In a span of five straight possessions, the Chargers senior guard had 3 assists and a pair of scores to give Aurora Central a commanding 48-22 lead.
"People were getting open," the Chargers' floor general said of her game-high 5 assists.
"(Cardona) would rather get the assist than a bucket," Fitzgerald said.
With Ashley Wilk (8 points) and Lisa Rodriquez establishing the tone early for Aurora Central, Cardona merely put the finishing touches on the Chargers' masterpiece.
Cardona finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds and even blocked a pair of shots while engineering the ACC offense to near perfection.
The squad had a lone turnover in the third quarter in extending its 27-15 halftime lead to 42-20 entering the final quarter.
"The (team) defense was about the best I have ever seen," Cardona said after ACC limited the Eagles to 22 percent (11-for-45) field-goal shooting.
After Hope guards Tymeko Talbert (team-high 11 points) and Kiesha Anderson opened the game with a 3-pointer and long deuce, respectively, the Chargers took command.
Wilk, who played only the first half due to flu symptoms, had back-to-back 3-point plays to give Aurora Central the lead for good.
Tess Alderman (9 points) made it three 3-point scoring possessions in a row for Aurora Central with a left-wing bomb, and Hope would not reach double figures until more than 11 minutes elapsed.
By that time, Rodriquez found her comfort zone, draining two 3-pointers in the second quarter as part of an 8-point outburst that framed her game-high 15-point night.
"It was probably our best-played game of the year," Rodriquez said. "I was relaxed out there. When you're relaxed, you play your best game."
"We just didn't execute what we practiced during the regular season," Hope coach Johnny Davenport said. "We weren't patient enough."