Cerone plays thief in Falcons' win at W. Chicago
When Wheaton North guard Allie Cerone makes a break on an opponent's pass, she usually comes away with a steal or at the very least a deflection.
But the Falcons' senior guard said it helps an awful lot knowing that her teammates have her back just in case she does not stop the pass from getting through. Thursday night in West Chicago, Cerone came away with 5 steals and helped visiting Wheaton North knock off the Wildcats 49-27 in DuPage Valley Conference action.
"It's easy to go (after steals) when you know your teammates are there with help," said Cerone, who also dropped down a trio of 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 14 points. "We try to start it off with pressure and steals. We want uncontested layups instead of 3s, but if the 3s are there we'll take them."
Cerone was not the only Falcon causing problems for an inexperienced West Chicago squad missing two starters due to injury. Michelle Scandora had 3 steals and Jamei Shin and Lauren Hoffman had two apiece as the Falcons (0-11, 0-3) caused 18 first-half turnovers while building a 29-9 lead at the intermission.
It was a Scandora steal that set up Cerone's first 3-pointer for a quick 5-0 lead. Scandora followed that with back-to-back baskets for a 9-0 lead. Kayla Radloff finally got the hosts on the board with a layup and a pair of free throws as the first quarter ended with the Falcons on top 9-4.
The lead reached 20 points, however, after the Falcons owned the second quarter 20-5. Cerone had 6 points in the quarter and Madison Goudy had a pair of buckets for Wheaton North (7-2, 3-0).
"We wanted to concentrate a little on our defense and we did a lot of nice things," Falcons coach David Eaton said. "On offense we got off to a good start as well."
Nine Falcons scored, and Shin and Hoffman added 3s to go with Cerone's 3-pointers to give the team 5 long-range connections for the night.
"We've got some players who can finish around the basket, but we've also got three or four kids who can hit from anywhere," Eaton said.
For the Wildcats, Wheaton North's pressure was just too much to handle. West Chicago shot 9 of 36 from the floor, but 33 turnovers didn't help matters much either. The Falcons, for example, got off 54 shots in the game (and made 19) while only turning the ball over 16 times.
"They're a more experienced team and they did some things that got us to turn the ball over," West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. "They took us out of our offense with their pressure."
Jessica Baids led the Wildcats with 7 points.