IC Catholic hands Wheaton Academy first defeat
Coaches love to sweat the little things. On Tuesday night IC Catholic Prep coach Aubree Schuett saw all that sweat result in a victory.
The Knights took care of those little things in a big way, cruising to an easy 48-24 victory against previously unbeaten Wheaton Academy in Elmhurst in the teams' first Metro Suburban Conference West Division game.
“I think that Wheaton Academy is a better team than they demonstrated this evening,” Schuett said. “As with any team, ups and downs. But we've been having a lot of conversations about responsibility and stepping up and taking care of what your responsibility is. And it's little things, like not leaving your warmup jacket in the bleachers to making sure that you rotate and box out the person on your side on weak-side help. And they're responding to that.”
“We stepped up on defense and we worked together and found the best shot and were very unselfish,” Knights senior guard Chiara Gaudio added.
The Knights (5-1, 1-0) took the steam out of the Warriors (4-1, 0-1) early. They led 13-8 after the first quarter, 28-15 by halftime and kept going from there.
“I think we struggled on both ends of the floor,” said Warriors coach Beth Mitchell, whose team last week won the Somonauk Thanksgiving Tournament. “We didn't communicate well defensively, and we didn't execute on the offensive end of the floor. We were just flat. This really was not a good performance for us. Jamie (Netzley) and Izzy (McNally) played really hard and played for four quarters, but other than that I think we really struggled to find the energy tonight.”
Gaudio found extra energy for the game, her best of the season, according to Schuett.
“The last couple of games Chiara has gotten into foul trouble real early, and then she has to sit,” Schuett said. “That was one thing we talked about before the game was making sure that she didn't do that. She didn't pick up her first foul until the fourth quarter or late in the third quarter. That was huge because that shows discipline, shows poise, focus, sticking to the game plan, being coachable, listening, reacing accordingly. That's huge.”
ICCP guard Erin Maloney led all scorers with 11 points. The Knights dished 12 assists on their 19 baskets, half of those assists from post players.
“If your bigs are passing the basketball like that, I'm not really sure how much better it can get,” Schuett said. “We've just got to be consistent. That's all.”
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