Warren gets by Bogan
Warren girls basketball coach John Stanczykiewicz called a timeout after watching his team fall behind Bogan 30-22 with two minutes left in fourth quarter at New Trier on Friday.
"I just wanted to remind the girls of what we were trying to accomplish, " Stanczykiewicz said. "Defensively, we wanted to double up so that we could make (Bogan) make quick decisions and try to take advantage of any bad passes. Offensively, we needed to slow down enough to find our scorers."
The Blue Devils got the message, as they came back to beat Bogan 33-32 in the New Trier Thanksgiving tournament in Winnetka.
"Our main focus was to look for Jessica Prince, Alexis Leneau and Amanda Barger," Stanczykiewicz said after his team improved to 2-2. "We needed to establish Jessica as an inside presence, which opened up the outside for Alexis and Amanda."
The strategy worked. The Blue Devils hit three straight 3-pointers, two by Leneau and one by Barger, to give Warren a 31-30 lead with 20 seconds left.
"I knew I had to shoot the ball," said Leneau, who
finished with 10 points and 4 assists. "I was wide open and I had to take the shots."
Barger, who gave her teammates a scare when she fell hard on her elbow, finished with 8 points and 7 assists.
"Coach drew up a play that allowed me to be open and I was able to make the shot," Barger said.
Bogan's Brandi Tarver converted two foul shots to give the lead back to the Bengals, but Prince followed with two free throws to provided the final margin.
Prince led all scorers with 12 points and also grabbed 9 rebounds.
"She hurt her knee and is out here playing as hard as she can," Stanczykiewicz said. "I just love these girls because they never give up. They play hard all the time. Sometimes they're not pretty to watch, basketball-wise, but I never doubt that they are playing as hard as they can."
Bogan led 17-12 at halftime and 23-19 at the end of the third quarter. Tarver led the Bengals with 8 points.
Bogan coach Gary Bell wasn't happy with his team's effort down the stretch.
"We didn't do a good job of protecting the basketball and we made some mistakes," Bell said. "It hurts because we made them on some key possessions. Maybe I should have had us attacking the basket more."