Kaneland can't recover from slow start

Kaneland's magic finally ran out at Oswego East.

After two wins put the Knights in the semifinals of the Oswego East Winter Classic for the first time in its five-year history, a slow start doomed Kaneland in a 50-30 loss to Andrew on Wednesday.

Kaneland (8-8) dug a 14-1 hole after a rough first quarter, and never recovered.

"If I had an answer to that start, I would have solved it," Knights coach Ernie Colombe said. "We just came out and looked nervous. We didn't play as a team, which we did the last couple nights. I wish I had the answers."

Kaneland shot a blistering 52 percent from the field on Tuesday against Addison Trail. The Knights did a 180-degree turn in the other direction Wednesday.

Kaneland missed its first 8 shot attempts until Kelly Evers scored in the paint with 3:39 left in the second quarter. By that time, the Knights trailed 22-5.

Kaneland seniors Andie Strang and Nicki Ott, who had career highs of 22 and 18 points Tuesday, combined for 2 points against Andrew.

"Their length hurt us," Colombe said. "They put a lot of pressure on us. I think half of it was their pressure and half of it was we just seemed out of it tonight. We seemed a little bit tentative and a little bit nervous. Hopefully it's a lesson learned."

Andrew survived a double overtime thriller with Plainfield North, but tired legs weren't apparent.

The Thunderbolts (10-1) advanced to the tournament championship for the first time behind athletic sophomore guard Tiana Karopulos' 14 points and 5 rebounds. Molly Franson, a 6-foot-1 freshman, came off the bench with 9 points and 10 rebounds.

"We set the tone with our defense," Andrew coach Bobby Matz said. "We got some steals and baskets in transition. It's nice to have a kid like Tiana who can make athletic plays, going one against two she can knife her way to the basket and find a way to get the ball up on the rim and get contact.

"That kind of effort is what our team is about."

Karopulos also played sterling defense on Strang, holding her to one shot attempt.

"We told Tiana her job is to never let No. 5 (Strang) touch the ball," Matz said. "I know she touched it, but she didn't get many shots. Little things like that, our team takes pride in."

Evers and Emma Bradford scored 5 points apiece for Kaneland.

Kaneland will play Downers Grove South at 5 p.m. today for third place. Colombe looks forward to that game as a building point into the season's second half.

"We want to finish in third place," Colombe said. "We're not looking to come out of this with a moral victory, but we have played 4A schools here. We're not running up our record against schools our size or smaller schools. We've played tough competition here and we got beat by a good team tonight. We're not hanging our heads. We've done some good things this week."