Warren tops Wheeling for chance at Blue Devil Classic title
The last time the Warren girls basketball team played in back-to-back championship games of its own holiday tournament was in 2008, when superstar center Sarah Boothe was leading the way.
Perhaps the stars are aligned in Warren's favor this year to actually win the tournament championship, just as Boothe's teams did routinely.
Interestingly, Boothe, who is now playing professional basketball in Russia, was on hand Wednesday as Warren played in the semifinals of the Blue Devil Classic. And with a 36-25 win over Wheeling, the host Blue Devils are now in position to add another tournament championship to their resume.
Warren, which lost to Wheeling in last year's title game, will play Chicago Phillips in the tournament championship at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
"From all the pictures on the wall and all the trophies, we know that (Boothe) had a very important part in this team's past," Warren senior point guard Alexis Young said. "Seeing her here kind of gave us a little bit of a motivation. And we were trying to get the win for her and kind of bring it back a little bit."
Warren, which is 8-7 overall, 4-0 in the tournament and above .500 for the first time in more than two years, led at the end of every quarter on the strength of tough defense. The Blue Devils held Wheeling to a 24 percent shooting clip from the field. Wheeling made just one field goal in both the third and fourth quarters.
"Warren did a great job of taking away a lot of things we wanted to do," Wheeling coach Matt Weber said. "They came out with a lot more energy than us. They really packed it in and we couldn't really get into a flow offensively. We struggled to find that flow the entire game."
No one scored in double-figures for Wheeling (5-11 overall, 2-2 tournament). Melissa Claver had a team-high 9 points.
For Warren, Jordyn Hughes was the only player to score in double-figures. She had a game-high 17 points. Kaylen Dickson added 7 points.
"It's a credit to the girls because we've had to grind it out the last two games," Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz said. "We're slowly showing composure and maturity in these situations."
The maturing Blue Devils, who clung to a 20-18 lead at halftime but outscored Wheeling 16-7 in the second half, might have been a little giddy in the locker room after the game.
"It was very cool to have (Boothe) in the locker room and she said hi and pointed out the thing about us being in the championship game for the second year in a row," Stanczykiewicz said. "It was cool because here is a former Gatorade Player of the Year (for Illinois), the legend of Sarah Boothe and we reference her all the time and her teams all the time. You want to try to connect your present teams to past successes. And you want to put faces with names of those successful players. The kids were all excited to meet her. She's like a celebrity."
Carmel 48, Lake Forest 36: Daija Pruitt put together a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead Carmel to its second win in the Warren Blue Devil Classic.
The Corsairs (6-8 overall, 2-3 tournament) were led in scoring by Alexa Amato with 19 points.
Carmel will face Grayslake Central at 12 noon on Saturday in the seventh-place game.
Deerfield 50, Grayslake Central 46: Grayslake Central was out-scored 22-13 in the fourth quarter.
Amanda Larson and Kelly Moroney scored 15 and 11 points respectively to lead the Rams, who are 6-8 overall and 0-4 in the tournament. Grayslake Central will face Carmel at 12 noon on Saturday in the seventh-place wgame.
Chicago Phillips 56, Elgin Larkin 47: Phillips moved to 4-0 in the Blue Devil Classic and 9-6 overall. Phillips will face Warren in Saturday's 4:30 p.m. championship game.
Autian Fain and Courtney Williams led Phillips with 18 and 16 points respectively.