West Chicago makes it look easy

Two quarters of one-point basketball isn’t going to win you many games.

Lemont had to face that ugly fact Tuesday night, falling 53-28 to West Chicago, the top seed at the fifth annual Oswego East Holiday Classic Tournament.

Claire Monroe scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the first quarter for the Wildcats (11-2), while leading the team in rebounding with 6 despite standing just 5-foot-4.

“What was nice about tonight was that even though I brought in some different kids, we stayed consistent,” West Chicago coach Kim Wallner said. “We didn’t drop our level of play, especially in the first half. I thought defensively we did some thing that kind stymied them offensively.”

Yeah, you could say that.

Lemont (8-6) started the first quarter with energy, putting up 9 points, but went to halftime with 10. A third-quarter explosion put 17 on the board, but that was only 3 points better than the Wildcats. The Indians sealed their fate with a lackluster final period.

“We just got outexecuted, outhustled and outsmarted,” Lemont coach William Bozue said. “We didn’t finish. We don’t shoot a good percentage, and even though we had open looks we couldn’t put them in tonight.”

Brenna Koerner, who had 25 points on Monday in a win over Plainfield East, had just 8 Tuesday, while also collecting 7 rebounds.

The Indians will face Oswego East, which lost 44-39 to Downers Grove South, at 5 p.m. Wednesday. West Chicago will play its championship semifinal at 8 p.m. and will have its hands full with the athletic Mustangs (10-3), but if the Wildcats execute the way they did against the Indians and start fast again they like their chances.

“We’re playing well,” Monroe said. “We have things we still need to work on defensively, like rebounding, but we’re playing well so far.”