Geneva has too much firepower for Knights

A solid, convincing win was exactly what the Geneva girls basketball team needed after losing two games in a span of 4 days.

The Vikings got that solid, convincing win after beating Western Sun Conference opponent Kaneland, 61-27, Wednesday in Geneva.

The Vikings (10-2, 5-1) were coming off a loss against Rosary on Monday in the second game of the Oswego Holiday Classic, which resumes Friday against rival Batavia, which handed Geneva its first loss of the season Friday.

Kaneland (3-8, 1-4) had played the night before, a nonconference win against East Aurora in overtime.

Geneva began its game against Kaneland on an 8-2 run, but the Knights capped the quarter on a 9-2 run, led by Sara Rose's 5 points.

"We came out and we shared the basketball," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said.

Kaneland led 11-10 after the first quarter, but didn't hang onto its lead for long. Geneva began the second with back-to-back 3-pointers from Taylor Whitley and Lindsay Templeman.

Switching the defense to man-to-man helped the Vikings.

"Everyone did such a great job," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "Obviously, defensively, our guards did a great job denying them opportunities even before they could get across court."

The Vikings got their first double-digit lead late in the second quarter, where they outscored the Knights 20-6 for a 30-17 lead at the break.

The second half was all Geneva, as it held Kaneland to 10 points.

"I thought Geneva did a good job on defense," Colombe said. "They frustrated a lot of our players into playing a tempo that we didn't want to play…they turned it up and we took a step back."

Whitley, Geneva's top scorer, led the way with her 18 points, including a 7-for-7 showing at the free-throw line, in 3 quarters.

"It's nice to see her hit free throws for sure," Nolan said. "That's one thing that is always counted on by her."

Whitley was the only player from either side to post double-digits. Nicole Gregory was next with 9 points and 4 steals.

For Kaneland, Chassidy Mangers led with 8 points, Rose finished with 7 points and Brittney Hankes grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

Girls gymnastics

Glenbard East 133.8:, Geneva 133.1: The Vikings had several highlights against the Rams, including Katherine Grubaugh's first place floor score of 9.125 and second place all-around of 34.35.

Grubaugh also scored 8.3 on bars and 8.25 on beam.

glendale

Other top performances included Shannon Vigna's 8.95 on vault, Cami Phetzer's 9.05 on floor and Sonya Leonard's 9.0 on floor.

Men's basketball

Aurora University 77, Clarke College 61:ŒLarry Welton had a game-high 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 assists as the Spartans improved to 8-2.

Doug Lambert added 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. Mike Leonard had 14 points 8 rebounds off the bench. Chad Trudo finished with 9 points and 5 assists.