Girls basketball: West Chicago’s comeback falls short at DeKalb
In a game that DeKalb coach Brad Bjelk described as a series of peaks and valleys, the Barbs scaled the summits at strategic times for a 64-55 non-conference matinee win over West Chicago on Saturday.
DeKalb raced out to a 15-3 lead in the first five minutes of the contest and then dominated play in the fourth quarter to thwart West Chicago’s comeback attempt.
“West Chicago is a good team, No. 2 (Jasmyn Trigueros) is a very good player, and they are a 15-win team,” Bjelk said. “It was peaks and valleys - a game of runs.”
It was only the fourth loss of the season for the 15-4 Wildcats. Trigueros led West Chicago with 21 points.
“It was a very competitive game between two up and coming teams. Our slow start hampered us from being able to complete our comeback when we made our run,” West Chicago coach Mark Fitzgerald said.
West Chicago’s loaded schedule, including an Upstate Eight contest the previous night, may have been a factor in the result.
“It was a back-to-back game for us, our sixth game of the holiday break and, most importantly, the DeKalb team played and shot extremely well.” Fitzgerald said.
“We’re just excited to get the win against West Chicago. They’re in our regional, so it was a big game for us,” said Bjelk.
After Mekenzie Hanrahan scored West Chicago’s first basket to tie the game at 2-all a minute into the contest, the Barbs went on a 13-1 run. Brytasia Long’s first of six baskets started the string which ended with an Ella Medina free throw at the 3:41 mark of the frame. Both seniors scored 15 points in the game.
“Our defense came out. We got some stops and some of those stops turned into quick baskets,” the DeKalb coach said. “We’re a defensive minded team so that’s what we wanted to do there.”
The Wildcats regained their touch, scoring nine points to the Barbs’ eight – all by Olivia Schermerhorn - to end the quarter with a 23-12 DeKalb advantage. The junior led all scorers with 22 points.
The two squads continued the even play in the second quarter with West Chicago trailing 36-24 at halftime.
DeKalb (9-5) found itself in a deep valley in the third quarter. West Chicago opened the quarter with an 11-5 run and pulled within four, 41-37 on an Olivia Ebelt bucket with 3:43 left in the quarter. The Wildcats narrowed the margin to three, 47-44 on Trigueros’ trey from the left corner with 17 ticks left on the clock. Medina’s top of the key three-pointer at the buzzer gave DeKalb a six- point margin, 50-44 to start the last period.
“They started to hit some shots, and we started to have a few defensive breakdowns, especially with our rotation,” Bjelk said.
West Chicago’s Alexis Leszczewicz, who scored nine points, canned a trey from the top of the key 42 seconds into the last quarter to make it a four-point game again, 51-47. DeKalb’s defense then stepped up, limiting the Wildcats to only eight more points during the rest of the period while the Barbs scored 13.
“We were able to buckle down defensively. We tightened it up, got a few stops and some of those stops led to some good possessions,” Bjelk said. “We also did a nice job of being composed.”
Zora Watts led the Barbs’ defense with 13 rebounds.
“They just had a couple good players that hit their shots. We just play hard,” Schermerhorn said. “That pulled us through. Everybody had a good game.”
Bjelk lauded the play of senior Ella Russell.
“Ella played a good game guarding Trigueros. She stepped in and played some good defense against her,” he said.
Sneha George scored 12 points for West Chicago.