Rosary, Geneva post easy victories

Balance was key for the Rosary basketball team in their game against Wheaton North.

The Royals had three players score in double-digits, which helped them beat the Falcons, 52-37, in the second day of Geneva's Thanksgiving tournament Tuesday.

"We have a lot of talent…and it's only going to get better," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "It's not just a 1-2 person show anymore."

Faith Jones led all scorers with 13 points. Jordan Rettig added 11 points and Victoria Alvarez finished with 10. Katie Petrando led the way on the boards with 8 to go with her 8 points.

"We were looking for each other, and everyone stepped up," Jones said. "Everyone did their job."

Wheaton North and Rosary exchanged leads for most of the first half, until the Royals (4-0) went on an 8-0 run that allowed them to lead 22-16.

Rosary's lead grew from there. It eventually went on a 13-1 run at the end of the third and into the fourth quarter.

"I thought if we went on a nice run, we could beat these guys," Beebe said. "It was nice. They stepped up today."

By the time the run was over, the Royals led 45-27.

"We just went cold," Wheaton North coach David Eaton said. "We were shooting the ball, but the shots weren't falling. We had a lot of good looks, but today was a bad day shooting…it just wasn't our day.

"Rosary is a great team. You have to give them credit for giving us problems. They are big and athletic, but our biggest thing was we didn't score."

Wheaton North (1-1) was led by Michelle Scandora's 7 points and 4 steals.

Geneva 72, Elgin 27: Two games, two convincing wins for the Vikings.

It was another high-scoring game for the Vikings, who beat the Maroons in the second day of their own Thanksgiving tournament Tuesday.

"We have nine new players to the varsity, and I'm really happy with the way they are coming together," Geneva coach Gina Nolan, whose Vikings scored 69 points in the first game of the tournament against Antioch. "They are learning their roles, learning the offense and defense. They are showing how hard they've worked in the last few weeks and it's nice to see."

"We are all still learning to play together because we have a lot of new players to varsity, such as myself," added Geneva's Kelsey Augustine. "We are coming together well. We work really hard in practice, and it shows during the games."

The Vikings jumped out to an 18-5 first quarter lead and never looked back. After Elgin's Brandi Hernandez opened the game with a 3-pointer, Geneva's Nicole Gregory scored the next 6 points.

The Vikings capped the first quarter on a 12-0 run, led by Taylor Whitley's 6 points.

Geneva (2-0) continued their run in the second quarter with a 10-0 run with most of the bench in the game.

Twenty-two Geneva points later, Elgin found itself in a 28-5 hole with less than three minutes left in the first half.

Whitley led all scorers with 19 points and 7 steals. Off the bench, Kelsey Augustine contributed 10 points and 5 rebounds for Geneva.

As a team, the Vikings finished with 23 steals and five different players posted 5 or more rebounds with Olivia Laster leading the way with 7.

Hernandez led Elgin (0-3) with 10 points and 3 steals.

"I think one thing we can take from this is that we can sit and look back at tape and watch them," Elgin coach Angie Hudson said. "They are definitely a good team to watch. We can learn from them. Hats off to them."