Geneva gets the block against York

Geneva coach Gina Nolan has an interesting spin on what makes Lauren Wicinski such a good rebounder.

"Obviously, volleyball's her main sport and when she goes up for a rebound she goes up with two hands," Nolan said of her 6-foot senior, a Northern Illinois volleyball recruit. "That isn't common for girls, especially tall girls. Maybe it's like in volleyball when you go up for a block, but it translates really well to basketball."

Wicinski had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the No. 2 Vikings' 55-39 win over York on Saturday at the Naperville North/Benet Holiday Tournament in Lisle.

That followed up Wicinski's 18-point, 16-board effort the night prior. Geneva outrebounded York 44-20. The player's analysis of rebounding prowess was simpler than coach's.

"It's just jumping, I guess," Wicinski said. "I just don't think people expect me to jump up and get it."

For the second time in three nights, Geneva shook off a slow start. York led 16-10 midway through the second quarter after a Mary Colon jumper. But Geneva ripped off a 9-0 run to end the first half. Ashley Santos gave the Vikings the lead with a pretty driving layup through the York defense. At the other end Santos wrestled the ball away from a Dukes player and made a long flip ahead to Kat Yelle for a breakaway and a 19-16 Geneva lead at the break.

"We didn't panic," Nolan said. "It was early. We just took it one basket at a time. We started to play our game and got in a nice flow."

The Vikings pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring York 19-9. Wicinski tallied 10 of her point total and Geneva forced 8 York turnovers, speeding up the pace.

"The tone was set in terms of momentum switch at the end of the second quarter," York coach Jason Reinecke said, "and for the most part what changed the momentum was us on offense. We turned the ball over a couple times. High school basketball is so much about momentum. It started to switch before halftime and you could see it spill over into the third quarter."

Colon had 15 points and 8 rebounds and Meryl Cripe had 10 points for York (5-7). It was the Dukes' sixth loss in seven games and third of the week - but they showed plenty of fight against their toughest opponent of the season.

"That's a tribute to our girls," Reinecke said. "It's been a tough week for all of us. Nobody likes to lose. They're sick of it, I'm sick of it. But this is what builds our character. I'm proud of the way they came out and battled."

Yelle scored 15 points and Santos had 9 for Geneva (12-0).