Balanced St. Edward notches SCC win over IC
Dominating on the boards throughout the entire first half, it appeared that the Immaculate Conception girls basketball team had Tuesday's Suburban Catholic Conference matchup at St. Edward under wraps.
But a momentum-shifting third quarter offensive push from the Green Wave would put them on top where they would remain for the duration, collecting a 48-38 SCC victory.
Trailing 22-20 at the half, St. Edward came out firing, opening the second half with a 9-0 run.
Junior guard Katie Yohn found Celeste VonAhnen under the net for two quick points just 50 seconds into the third quarter.
"We picked up the intensity in the second half," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. "We knew we had to start hitting the boards harder."
Kelly Knott (11 points) followed, connecting from long distance, recording the first of 10 points she would score that quarter. Knott quickly added 2 more points on a breakaway assisted by Yohn.
VonAhnen drew the charge on the opposite end, and went on to score the next two buckets, both assisted by Yohn.
Tightly guarded from the beginning, Yohn, who was being recruited by Bradley and Western Illinois on Tuesday, found a way to be effective for St. Edward tallying 8 points, 11 assists, 5 steals and 8 rebounds.
"We put a lot of pressure on Yohn," said IC coach Dan Murray. "She didn't force things which shows her game mentality.
"Hats off to her. She is an outstanding player."
On the other end of several of those 11 dishes, VonAhnen (7 rebounds) finished the game with 19 points to lead all scorers.
"We started out slow, but we picked it up in the second half and turned things around," said VonAhnen. "The biggest thing was playing harder defense. Coach also talked about getting the ball to me more in the second half.
"Everyone played defense and we all woke up for a good second half."
When all was said and done, St. Edward (9-7, 5-3) outscored IC 18-6 in the third to take a 38-28 lead into the final 8 minutes.
Helping the Knights (8-12, 2-6) to an early lead, Erin Dunne (10 points, 6 rebounds), Nicolette Lullo (5 points, 4 rebounds) and Erin Hayes (7 points) were extremely effective.
"We did a really nice job following our game plan in the first half," said Murray. "We played very well and we did a nice job containing Yohn.
"We came out flat in the third quarter, and this is hard for a coach to say, but they (St. Edward) wanted it more than we did."
Mary Kate Manion recorded 7 points and 3 rebounds for the Knights, and Corrina Larry came off the bench to add 4 points and 5 boards.
For St. Edward, Megan Pozezinski (2 points, 4 rebounds, block) brought a strong defensive game against Hayes.
"The girls did what we asked them to do tonight," Dawson said. "We had nice team play from everybody for a very balanced attack."