Metea Valley does its part

Metea Valley's Lori Obendorf recognizes that her team won't receive the attention her brother Kenny and the undefeated Mustangs boys get.

But the Metea girls have made a leap forward in their own right this second varsity season.

"Everybody kind of worships the boys and their undefeated record," Obendorf said. "We're not the type of team that's going to have an undefeated season, but we can still have a good record and do what we can."

Obendorf had 11 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks in the Mustangs' 49-27 win over St. Charles North on Wednesday in Aurora. With the win Metea (7-9) already has matched its win total of a year ago.

Obendorf came in off a 25-point outing against Aurora Central at the Oswego East Tournament. Though skinny in frame, the 6-foot-2 junior has grown into quite a force inside.

"Lori is very smart, and because she's smart she's always in the right spots defensively," Metea coach Kris Kalivas said. "She's got stronger over the last couple years, and she's just grown and I think that shows in her confidence. She's hard to keep off the floor."

"Last year offensively I didn't go up as strong, I wasn't as confident with the ball in my hands," Obendorf said. "This year I'm going a better job realizing that it's OK not to make every shot, just go up strong and do what I can. On defense I think I just want it more this year."

Metea scuffled some offensively in the early going Wednesday, with good reason. Starting point guard Megan Geldernick, who missed time last week while at a soccer tournament, only played a minute of the first half.

Metea's defense carried the day, the Mustangs taking a 24-16 lead into the break. Then they held St. Charles North scoreless the entire third quarter.

"We made a push toward the end of the second quarter going into halftime and we picked right up after halftime," Kalivas said. "That third quarter was one of our best defensive quarters we've had all year."

St. Charles North (5-11) was still within striking distance midway through the second quarter, down 20-16. But from there the North Stars didn't score again until Megan Booe's basket with 7:40 left in the game, a stretch of more than 11 minutes.

"We played basketball for one half," St. Charles North coach Colleen Brennan said. "You can't compete in a basketball game playing just one half."

Bria Walker and Anna Petersen both scored 13 points for Metea and Amira Turner had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Turner and Obendorf were relentless on the glass for the Mustangs.

"It's good to have our squad back together full strength," Kalivas said. "We told our kids before the game to use this game to set the tempo for what we want to do the second half of the season. Fortunately we started off on a positive note."

Liz McNally and Alex Silverman both scored 5 points off the bench for St. Charles North. The North Stars subs accounted for 22 of their point total.