Knights down Tomcats in OT

Kaneland's girls team saved some of its best basketball for last, and managed to get out of East Aurora with a 44-40 overtime win.

But it did not have to be anywhere near that difficult. There were several ways that the Knights could've ended this in regulation, and done so by a comfortable margin. The simplest way would have been to hit any one of their 8 fourth quarter free throws.

"Those free throws would've helped us out," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "They got us playing helter skelter and we couldn't get into a flow."

The Knights watched Mallory Adam lead the Tomcats back from a 9 point deficit, but regrouped and came out with renewed determination in the bonus period.

"We didn't play well in the fourth quarter, but we got a second chance," Colombe said.

After the teams traded baskets at the start of overtime, Sara Rose buried a three-pointer to give the Knights a 38-35 lead, and they never trailed again.

"I was looking for that shot all night," Rose said.

Katie Hatch made up for a pair of missed free throws in the fourth quarter by knocking down all four of her overtime attempts to help Kaneland seal the win.

"I just had to block everything else out and make those," Hatch said.

Both teams got off to sluggish starts and the shots were not dropping in the first half. Kaneland (3-7) was up at the break thanks to a strong effort on defense, but all they had to show for it was a 10-8 lead.

"We missed so many shots in the first half," Colombe said. "I think that hurt our confidence a little bit."

Brittney Hankes led Kaneland with 13 points, and 13 rebounds, as the Knights owned the boards for most of the game, and allowed only 4 second chance points.

"We were able to shut down their shooters, and that's what we were trying to do," Hankes said.

Chassidy Mangers hit a short jumper to cap an 8-2 Kaneland run in the third quarter which gave the Knights their biggest lead of the night, 21-12. But East Aurora's Jazmin Villa and Janelle Morga connected from beyond the arc, while Adam was working the post, and Tomcats (2-8) came back to take the lead with 3:16 to go in the fourth quarter.

"We're a young team, but we're scrappy," East Aurora coach William Anderson said.