Geneva 58, Rochelle 41
Fast starts haven't exactly been Geneva's forte lately.
Prior to Friday night's game with Rochelle, Vikings girls basketball coach Gina Nolan tried to remedy the problem.
"We talked today and after the Kaneland game (Geneva's 66-65 overtime win Tuesday) about coming out harder, honestly, from our warmups -- from the minute we leave the locker room," said Nolan.
The plan obviously worked, as Geneva (14-4) shot out to an 8-0 lead in the first 2 minutes, forcing Hubs coach Kay Dobbs to burn a pair of early timeouts.
"That was the best start to a game that we've had in a while," said Nolan.
From there, the Vikings used a couple more second-half spurts to pull away for a 58-41 Western Sun Conference victory in Geneva.
"In warmups, we came out hard," said junior guard Taylor Whitley, who scored 11 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter after managing just 4 first-half points. "We came out at 8-0 so that was good. We haven't done that in a while."
Whitley and junior backcourtmate Emily Hinchman combined for 6 of the Vikings' 7 first-quarter steals while helping push the home team to a 12-7 lead.
"That intensity transferred right into the beginning of the game," said Nolan. "That's what we need to do every time out.
"I'm happy with the way we came out on defense tonight and just really attacked them."
With 6-foot-1 center Nicole Newton (9 points, 12 rebounds) and guard Kristi Alfano (12 points) providing an inside-outside punch, Rochelle narrowed the gap to 24-18 early in the third quarter.
But the Vikings answered with a 12-2 run to up the lead to 36-20 midway through the period, as Nicole Gregory (16 points) and Olivia Laster (6 points) tallied 4 points apiece.
"Nicole stepped up and had a great game scoring for us," Nolan said of her senior guard.
When the Hubs pulled within 12 at 48-36 with 3:59 remaining, Whitley scored 8 of the Vikings' final 10 points to help secure the victory.
"They used a box-and-one on her (Whitley) at one point in the second quarter," said Nolan. "That was a little bit frustrating but she did a nice job of driving to the basket and drawing the fouls when she needed to."
With the Vikings' penchant for down-to-the-wire finishes this season, Nolan never felt too comfortable down the stretch.
"To see a double-digit lead on the scoreboard -- that was definitely nice," the coach said. "But even when we were up 15 in the fourth quarter, I felt like with their outside shooting that they could get back into it."
Glenbard South 48, Kaneland 42: Danielle Pipal played like a human alarm clock.
The 5-foot-8 senior guard woke up the Raiders in the second quarter by scoring 11 of her game-high 18 points. That was the spark her team needed to beat Western Sun Conference foe Friday in Glen Ellyn.
Pipal sensed her sluggish team needed a boost.
"I stepped it up and I tried to shoot more," she said. "We needed a little push to get going."
The girls basketball game was the first half of a Pack-The-Place varsity doubleheader. Both clubs appeared sleepy for the 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
Kaneland (6-12, 1-7) got the best of the early action. The Knights handled Glenbard South's backcourt pressure relatively well and led 14-10 after Sara Rose made a layup with 5:32 left in the second quarter.
But then Pipal went to work after re-entering the game with 2 fouls. She drained a 3-pointer and scored 7 points in a minute.
"She went back in and took over," Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda said. "When she gets hungry and she sees the opportunities, she takes advantage of them."
"She's a great player," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe added. "She's one of the best players in the conference and she showed that tonight. She's tough."
Pipal's outburst triggered a 13-2 run for Glenbard South (14-6, 6-3) that closed the first half, sending the home team into the locker room with a 26-19 advantage.
Kaneland stayed within single digits in the second half and found itself as close as 30-28 on Lesley Winslow's putback with 2:20 left in the third quarter.
But, with Pipal on the bench, the Raiders scored the next 5 points with Alicia Engelhardt hitting back-to-back buckets.
The home team took a 40-31 lead in the final quarter and hit enough free throws to keep Kaneland at bay.
Katie Hatch finished with 13 points and Rose totaled 11 for the Knights.
"I'm disappointed tonight," Colombe said. "We did some things well, but there are a lot to things we need to improve on. We weren't really happy with the effort for four full quarters today. We've been playing fairly well, but tonight we just came out flat. I don't know why."
-- Dave Miller
Montini 62, St. Francis 29: St. Francis couldn't match Montini's size, speed and depth, and oh yeah, the Spartans were playing without point guard and team leader Catherine Culligan.
Yet there they were, down just 30-22 with 6:40 left in the third quarter following a 3-pointer from Maggie O'Toole Friday in Wheaton. After that the Spartans (9-10, 1-7) had a possession with a chance to get even closer to the state-ranked Broncos.
But following a timeout by Montini coach Jason Nichols, the Broncos regrouped and quickly took command on their way to a Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball win that sends them into today's game with Driscoll with a 13-4 overall mark and 4-0 in the SCC.
"We were just going through the motions," Nichols said of his team's sluggish play at times over the first two-plus quarters of play. "It was like we wanted to put them away in the first half and we didn't, and then we were just jacking up shots."
With Culligan diagnosed with mononucleosis this week and most likely sidelined for the next month, the Spartans committed 16 turnovers in the first half while falling behind 30-17. But Kelly Reinke, starting in place of Culligan, opened the second half with a pair of free throws for St. Francis and, when O'Toole followed with her second 3-pointer of the night, things got a little interesting.
But Montini picked up its defensive pressure and forced 10 more turnovers in the third quarter, which closed with a 15-2 Broncos burst and a 45-22 lead heading into the final quarter.
Center Michala Johnson scored 7 of her game-high 19 points in the quarter, including a putback that turned into a three-point play and a spinning layup for a 35-22 lead just a minute after Nichols called his timeout.
Spartans coach Leslie Fay-Dehn felt her team did about as well as it could considering the news about Culligan and the fact that Montini came to town with a big height advantage.
"We just found out Wednesday and Catherine's our point guard and our leader on the floor, so it's tough," Fay-Dehn said. "But I thought the kids bounced back pretty well. I think we just ran out of steam a little bit. They started running the floor and the tempo got out of hand for us."
-- Stan Goff
Boys basketball
Burlington Central 74, North Boone 42:ŒWhen a team goes on a 26-2 run, they usually win the game.
Usually when a team hits seven 3-pointers and outscores the opponent by 30 at the half it's pretty inconceivable that a team out in front by that much could lose right?
Right.
Burlington Central's boys basketball team put on a first half clinic, looking more than ready to take on Hampshire today with a 74-42 rout of North Boone in a Big Northern East meeting Friday night.
"We really shot well tonight. Kind of a direct opposite of our game last Saturday," said Rockets coach Chris Payne.
The Rockets (10-4, 2-0) exploded from the get-go, hitting 10 of their 17 first-quarter shots. The Rockets saw red glare in their rear view mirror while the Vikings (4-11, 0-3) had trouble finding their mark, missing 12 shots (15-for-49 for the game) and trailing 27-5 starting the second quarter.
"It was nice to see us get back to shooting the ball the way were capable of," Payne said.
The two gunners that prove Central can shoot the ball, Jake McNutt and Mike McCurdy, combined for 43 points, including seven 3-pointers.
"They shot the ball real well. That's as good as Michael has shot it in a long time," said Payne.
McCurdy scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the first quarter, which included two 3-pointers and two lay-ups during a 26-2 run that put away the Vikings early.
"We wanted to get out early, jump on 'em, set the pace right away, set it to how we like to play," said McNutt.
After McCurdy's onslaught ended, McNutt started his own. He opened the second quarter nailing the Rockets' first 3 shots en route to his 18-point night, which included 4 assists and four 3-pointers.
"Jake is hitting around 40 percent from there and this is what we expect from him," said Payne.
Up 30, the Rockets' shooting tailed off. They went just 11 of 29 in the second half, a far cry from the first half.
"We've been in this situation a couple times this year where we've been up big at halftime and came out in the second half and really didn't have the intensity that we had in the first half. That's just something we need to do a better job of," said Payne.
The Rockets had three players in double figures including Jason Wagner, who grabbed 8 rebounds along with his 10 points.
Alex Beck finished with 12 points to lead North Boone.
-- Steve Nichols
St. Francis 63, Montini 54:ŒThe Spartans needed a second-half surge in its boys basketball contest with Montini Friday in Lombard, and it came in the form of senior Dan McCoy.
McCoy knocked down four 3-pointers and scored 14 points in helping the Spartans overcome a first-half deficit to earn a win over the Broncos in Suburban Catholic Conference play.
"(McCoy) was on fire. He was unconscious," Spartans head coach Shawn Healy said. "We needed that. We needed to score because we had some guys in foul trouble, so we needed that. Dan came out and he was just on fire."
St. Francis staked a 16-7 first-quarter lead after it put together a 14-2 run on baskets from Bob Vonderhaar, Brian McMahon and Jack Purdom. Montini fought back with a run of its own, a 14-3 clip, thanks to the stellar play from senior Dex Jones, who scored 8 of his 12 points in the second quarter. The Broncos (8-8, 3-4) then took a 33-28 lead in to halftime after a three-point play from Zach Brash and Jason Viane's basket.
"We told our guys that if they were patient on offense and made more than one pass (we would do well)," Montini coach Tom Sloan said. "When we ran our half-court man offense (in the first half) and were patient, we were getting opportunities in rhythm and we were able to score."
Jones made it a 39-34 contest on a putback with 4:47 left, but St. Francis countered with a 17-9 run and took a 51-43 lead, an advantage it didn't relinquish, on McCoy's third 3-pointer of the third quarter.
Vonderhaar finished with a game-high 18 points while McMahon added 17 and Purdom, who also connected for four 3-pointers, finished with 12 points for St. Francis (11-4, 5-1).
"I think offensively we're doing a good job, but I think defensively we could be doing some things a little bit better," Healy said. "When you've got the threats that we have it makes things look a lot better. But we've got to dig in deep in the second half of the season because we've got some tough games coming up."
-- Kevin Shepke