Yorkville snaps Kaneland's winning streak
The Kaneland girls basketball team made a valiant comeback against Yorkville, but couldn't finish the job.
The Knights turned a 10-point third-quarter deficit into a 41-38 lead with under 5 minutes remaining, but the host Foxes responded with a 10-3 run and held on for a 48-47 victory in Friday night's pivotal Northern Illinois Big 12 East contest.
Yorkville (15-2, 7-0) snapped Kaneland's eight-game winning streak, opened up a two-game conference lead over in the Knights (14-2, 3-2) in the loss column, and avenged a 42-33 defeat in the championship game of the Ottawa Christmas Classic.
"Yorkville's a really good team and it was a great game," said Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe. "We're going to get them again. There's some things that we have to tighten up and we will."
"That game could have went either way," said Yorkville coach Luke Engelhardt. "Our girls showed a lot of maturity. We missed some free throws late, but we controlled the ball and didn't turn it over."
Both teams struggled at the line as Kaneland went 5-for-12 and missed 3 of 4 in the final three minutes. Yorkville was just 8-for-20 overall, including 2-for-8 in the final 30 seconds while nursing a 2-point lead.
Kaneland failed to capitalize late as the Foxes pulled down a pair of offensive rebounds off missed free throws.
Audrey Macciomei finally dropped in a free throw with 13 seconds left for a 48-44 Yorkville lead, making Kylie Modaff's 3-pointer at the buzzer academic.
"When you lose a one-point game and you're 5-of-12 from the free throw line, there's plenty of opportunities there to win this game," Colombe said.
Yorkville scored the final 4 points of the second quarter and opened the third with 5 more for its largest lead of the game at 27-17.
"They got us out of our offense early, and that's a credit to them," Colombe said.
Kaneland answered with an 11-3 run featuring a Jenni Weber 3-pointer and 6 straight points from Bailey Crimmins.
Morgan Weber opened the fourth quarter with a short jumper and Crimmins scored again to tie the game at 36-36.
Modaff's 3-pointer from the corner put Kaneland in front and Morgan Weber followed with a layup on a baseline drive for a 41-38 lead.
The score was tied at 42-42 with two minutes left when Lauren Daffenberg (11 points) and Lindsay Harrison (9 points) put Yorkville ahead to stay with baskets on consecutive possessions.
Camri Conley and Jenni Weber combined for 23 Kaneland points in the first meeting, but managed just 4 points each as Yorkville contained Conley's driving and limited Weber to 1-of-8 shooting.
Crimmins picked up the slack with a solid 14-point, 10-rebound effort before fouling out in the final minute. Modaff added 9 points on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc.
Katie Nolan led the Foxes with 13 points and 8 rebounds.
"The loss hurts, but we have Rochelle on Tuesday and we play Sycamore and Yorkville again. Anyone in our conference can win on any night of the week," Crimmins said.