Rock Valley plows past Harper
Second-ranked Rock Valley was riding an 11-game winning streak in North Central Community College Conference womens’ basketball play entering Monday’s action against host Harper at the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine.
The game was originally scheduled to be played Feb. 1 but was postponed due to snow.
It turns out even the blizzard couldn’t stop Rock Valley.
The Golden Eagles looked more focused as they ran out to a 10-2 lead. It took until the 13:45 mark of the first half for the Hawks to score when Sara Kellermeyer (Schaumburg) produced 2 of her 16 points.
The Golden Eagles had been averaging 75 points. The good news for the Hawks is that they held Rock Valley far below that, to just 55 points.
The bad news for the Hawks: they managed only 42 points themselves.
“They played like (an undefeated team in conference)” Harper coach Mark Smith said of Rock Valley.
One bright spot for Harper was fresman Larissa Aguero (Wheeling). She’d been forced to sit out the season’s first meeting at Rock Valley but this time finished with 11 points.
“I thaught Larissa did a nice job,” said Smith.
Aguero contributed solid defense opposite 6-foot Marion Thompson, and Golden Eagles coach Misty Opat was forced to go to her bench in order to better defend Aguero.
“The problem was we couldn’t score (after making a defensive stand),” Smith said.
Anna Kirchoff is one of the Hawks’ top two scorers but finished with 5 points. She was held scoreless in the first half. Kirchoff scored her first basket of the game at the 10:41 mark of the second half.
“We turned the ball over too much (with 23 turnovers against the Rock Valley pressure defense)” said Smith. “Hopefully we will see them down the road.”
Ÿ Three Harper players scored in double figures as the Hawks’ men’s basketball team earned a 65-49 win over Rock Valley on Monday night at the Sports and Wellness Center. The Hawks were led in scoring by Shonnon Barfield with 17 points.
The Hawks are now 21-7 overall and 7-5 in North Central Community College Conference play this season. The win marks the eighth time in school history Harper has reached 20 wins.
Harper coach Tony Amarino has guided the Hawks to the 20-win mark twice, including his first campaign at Harper in the 2007-2008 season.