Cannon shoots Wheeling past Elk Grove

Wheeling passed its first major test Friday night in defense of its two Mid-Suburban League East girls basketball championships.

And it was pass after pass by Janelle Cannon that provided the game's highlights.

She zipped them left and right, many of the no-look variety, and even one backwards.

But the 5-foot-10 Minnesota recruit also found time to toss a few shots toward the basket.

Cannon finished as the game's top scorer with 21 points along with 5 assists as the Wildcats led start to finish in a 49-37 triumph at Elk Grove.

Wheeling (9-1) is tied for first with Prospect (9-0) and Hersey (6-3) in the MSL East. All three are 2-0.

Elk Grove is 8-2 overall and 0-2 in the East.

The Grenadiers were led by 6-foot-4 Courtney Lindfors (16 points, 16 rebounds, 5 blocked shots) and 6-foot Ashley Capotosto (8 points, 8 rebounds), who sat out the first five minutes of the game because she had missed practice Thursday due to illness.

Cannon had three 3-pointers while teammate Bianca Szafarowicz (10) hit two from long distance.

"You've just got to score any way you can going against their height," Cannon said. "You're not going to get a lot of wide-open layups. So I took the shot if I was open outside.

"But passing is my favorite. I'm always trying to get my teammates involved as mush as possible. But I'll look for the shot, too."

Szafarowicz's 12-foot fade-away shot and Stephanie Kuzmanic's driving bank shot off an assist from her sister Kellie gave the Wildcats a 4-0 lead a minute and half into the game.

Szafarowicz (5 rebounds, 4 steals) added a 3-pointer with 4:55 left and the visitors were up 7-1.

Elk Grove fought back to 7-5 before Wheeling went on a 12-0 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Szafarowicz and Cannon for a 19-7 cushion.

"Janelle had some nice looks," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel. "The whole team was unselfish. With Elk Grove's size, you don't want to force shots. You want to find the open person."

Wheeling led by 12 at half and maintained at least an 8-point lead until 1:01 was left in the game. That's when Kelly Naughton hit an 8-foot bank foot bank shot.

But Cannon sank 6-of-6 free throws in the final 56 seconds to help Wheeling seal its 19th straight MSL East win.

"We just didn't execute on offense and our shots weren't dropping," Capotosto said.

The Wildcats sank 16-of-18 free throws, including 3 from Larissa Aguero and 2 from Ellie Grinter, while the hosts were 7-of-15.

Both teams held the other to scoring season lows.

Each scored only 1 basket in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

"Defensively, we did everything we wanted to do," said Grenadiers coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "We went mostly man-to-man and had to adjust to different things.

"The biggest difference in the game was that we didn't handle their 2-3 zone well. We said we needed to get the ball to our posts first. Instead, we were shooting too quickly. We needed to go inside before we started shooting outside."

Grens senior point guard Olivia Roback collected 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

Stephanie Kuzmanic finished with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal while her sister Kellie had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists.

"We want to get the conference championship again, so every game is big," Cannon said. "We want that third title."

Elk Grove wants to stay in the title chase. The Grens face undefeated Prospect on Friday.

"We can't really sulk much about this game with Prospect next," Kirkorsky said. "It doesn't get any easier."