Kaneland gets hot, shoots down Aurora Central

Sometimes scouting a team can be deceiving. Ask Aurora Central Catholic coach LeVada Smith.

"I watched tape and didn't see them hit that many 3s," Smith said of the Kaneland Knights.

Smith caught Kaneland on a cold night for his scout. The Knights were anything but Saturday night at Kaneland's fifth annual Kristina M. Colombe Hoops for a Cure Shootout.

Kelsey Modaff started the game with a 3-pointer. Chloe Conley followed with another. Then it was Modaff's turn for two more.

By halftime the Knights had knocked down six 3-point shots. They finished with 10 in a 61-37 victory in an event named in honor of Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe's late wife.

"We love it because there's a few other players on our team who had parents or other family members who experienced cancer in their life," said Conley, a sophomore point guard. "It's really for our coaches and all of us and it's really meaningful to all of us."

Conley led the way with her four 3s as the Knights hit 47.6 percent from beyond the arc.

"We moved the ball," Conley said. "We always did the extra pass which our coach is always encouraging. We were really looking for open shots in open areas."

Kaneland (17-10) never trailed. Already ahead 16-8, the Knights broke the game open with a 22-3 run for a 38-11 lead.

Sophomore Kylie Holubecki complemented all the long-range accuracy with several aggressive moves inside. She scored all 8 of her points in the first half.

Conley led Kaneland with 14 points and Hannah Armin had 10 as eight different players scored.

"I thought we were very unselfish," Colombe said. "We want to pass up a good shot for a great shot. We had a lot of contributions from a lot of kids."

The win completed a 2-0 weekend for the Knights who entered on a 3-game losing streak to Sycamore, Sterling and Geneseo.

It's been a rewarding year for Colombe whose team graduated All-Area guards Jamie Martens and Jenni Weber.

"We lost Jenni and Jamie, those are two pretty big losses," Colombe said. "A lot of programs you lose some key players and you go under .500 for a few years. This team wants to win 20 games, that's one of our goals, and we've got four games next week."

Delani Kosner paced Aurora Central Catholic (10-15) with 19 points. Lara Anger added 9 points and 6 rebounds but the rest of the team combined for just 9 points.

"Kaneland plays really good defense," Smith said. "I thought second half was a lot better. We got our legs a little more but we didn't close out on shooters."