St. Edward breaks free from Timothy Christian
Everything about Brooke Biggins belies her youth. She is heady, composed and shows an absolutely fearlessness out on the floor.
In other words she is a freshman in grade only. The St. Edward guard put on a wondrous performance in the consolation final of the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic on Saturday night.
Biggins scored a game-high 14 points and sparked a 15-0 second-half run that broke open a tight game as the Green Wave defeated Timothy Christian 47-37.
For good measure Biggins added 6 rebounds and 4 steals for the Green Wave (7-9).
"These girls I play with just give me a lot of confidence out there," Biggins said. "This was our best game of the year. We just really worked hard."
The game constituted a clash of styles featuring the Green Wave's speed and quickness and the Trojans' height and length on the inside.
The speed won out. After neither team led by more than three points in a game that featured five ties and four lead changes, St. Edward guard Samantha Ottinger drilled a 3-pointer for a 28-26 Green Wave lead to start the fourth quarter.
It proved the prelude of a fantastic burst. Biggins drilled a jumper and scored 5 points as the Green Wave (7-9) stunned the Trojans by scoring the first 12 points of the final quarter.
"They were just quicker than us, they were faster than us, they outcompeted us and they outhustled us," Timothy Christian interim coach Mark Baumbach said. "This was the first game this year where our energy level just felt low."
Guard Mia Castro was also a sparkplug during the run in scoring consecutive layups off the Green Wave pressure that created five Timothy turnovers in the decisive quarter.
Hailey Niehaus also scored 7 points.
Ottinger finished with 10 points and hit the game's only two 3-point shots. Junior guard Madeline Ellsworth scored 8 points in support of the offensive attack.
"We can't always promise a good offensive game, but we can always promise a good defensive game," Ellsworth said. "We work as a team on defense and our all energy and motivation come from our defense."
The Trojans (12-4) finally broke the scoring drought on a layup by sophomore forward Hannah Schuringa with 4:28 to play, sparking an 8-2 run. Timothy ran out of time.
Despite holding the height advantage with the 5-foot-11 Schuringa and 6-foot-2 Greta Hoogstra, the Trojans couldn't punish the Green Wave on the interior.
Schuringa scored a team-high 13 points. Sophomore guard Sarah Carstensen added 12 points.
"Our entry passes were not as sharp as normal," Baumbach said. "They played very good defense, and we were just a step slow tonight. We were not there."