Lakes tops Marian Central, Harvard
Lakes girls basketball coach Pete Schneider finally got the defensive performance he’s been seeking from his team.
Playing the first of two games at Woodstock on Saturday, the Eagles edged Marian Central 40-39 on Day 2 of the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic.
Lakes then notched its second win of the day by shutting down Harvard in a 38-15 decision.
Schneider, whose Eagles improved to 5-7 overall and 2-1 in the tournament, changed up his starting lineup to get more defense in the game.
“Until we get everyone playing better team defense, we are willing to sacrifice scoring for defense,” Schneider said. “I would rather have a low-scoring, well-played game than a sloppy run-and-gun game.”
The Marian Central game marked the first time this season that Lakes held its opponent under 40 points.
“The best defense of the day was played by Nicole Mogged and Ashley Parmly,” Schneider said. “Their hustle and work set the tone early and provided the needed intensity for the team.”
Katie Brinser and Ashlee Cunningham led Lakes offensively with 9 and 8 points, respectively.
“We are used to having scoring in the double digits per player, but that is not winning us games,” Schneider said. “Marian is a good team and can pressure you with their ability to drive to the basket. They kept the pressure on us the entire game.”
Against Harvard, Lakes received 10 points apiece from Cunningham and Evan Morris.
Lakes will next play at Richmond-Burton at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Hoffman Estates 52, Mundelein 35: The Hoffman Estates girls basketball team rebounded in two different ways Saturday at the Mundelein Christmas tournament.
First, the Hawks bounced back from a 43-39 conference setback less than 24 hours earlier to Schaumburg.
Second, they rebounded on the glass, pulling down a near-season best of 32 in a 52-35 quarterfinal victory over the host Mustangs.
The Hawks (11-2) will face Libertyville (13-0) in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.
“We had a bad loss the night before,” said Hawks senior forward Jada Stotts, who had anything but a bad game Saturday, scoring 15 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. “That loss hurt us a lot and we wanted to shake it off.”
Sure enough, the Hawks shook free early to a 23-6 lead with Stotts scoring all but 2 of her 15 points.
“Jada came out and set the tone for us,” said Hawks coach Mike Nocella. “When she does that, it makes things easier for Destinee (Young) and Precious (Ogunleye) to do their things.”
Young scored a game-high 19 points with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots while Ogunleye tossed in 10 points with 7 rebounds.
“They’re a good team, they have great talent and are well-coached,” said Mundelein coach Brian Evans. “We knew we had to play extremely aggressive against them because they have so much size and strength. Obviously they did a good job exploiting our weaknesses.”
There were few weaknesses in senior Olivia Dunigan’s game as she as she scored 12 of Mundelein 16 points in the first quarter (Becca Woit, Kate Wallen and Rachael Millner had the other 4 points).
Dunigan finished with 16 points.
“Even Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen,” Evans said. “We have to do something more than have Olivia carry us. Twenty years ago, if you had an amazing payer, you could get away with that one girl.
“But in today’s game, it’s just not going to happen. There are too many talented players.”
Mary Pettit handed out 3 assists for the Hawks while Mel McGinn pulled down 5 rebounds.
John LeuschStevenson 56, Lake Zurich 36: Michelle O#146;Brien scored 20 points for the host Patriots in the North Suburban Lake Division game.
Anna Morrissey added 11 points for Stevenson (9-3, 4-1), which led 15-5 after one quarter and 32-18 at halftime. McKinley Imus, Ashley Niedermayer and Kari Moffat chipped in7 points apiece for the Patriots.
Lake Zurich received 14 points from Dori Darras.
Grayslake North wins twice: At Richmond-Burton, in the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic, the Knights defeated Crystal Lake South 59-50 and North Chicago 49-40.
Against North Chicago, Grayslake North (3-10, 2-1 tourney) got a career-high 16 points from sophomore Shyanne Ludwick and 10 from freshman Kendall Detweiler. Brianna Leon grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. Sophomore Jordyn Bowen contributed 6 points and 4 steals.
Bowen and Ludwick had 9 points against CL South.
Wauconda wins twice: At Marengo, the Bulldogs improved to 12-0 and 3-0 in the Northern Illinois Holiday Classic.
Tammy Ellis scored 10 points and added 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in a 39-31 win over Marengo. Melanie Prudhomme added 8 points and 4 steals.
Wauconda then defeated Crystal Lake Central 29-18, limiting the Tigers to 9 points through three quarters. Ellis and Roslyn Summerville scored 9 and 8 points, respectively.
Round Lake loses twice: At Woodstock North, in the Nothern Illinois Holiday Classic, the Panthers lost to McHenry 44-24 and Burlington Central 59-41.
#147;Both teams were much bigger than us,#148; Panthers coach Howard Conkling said.
Round Lake (4-9, 0-3 tourney) received 11 points from Chanae Brown against McHenry. Brown and Krystal Pitts had 18 and 14 points, respectively, against Burlington Central.
Carmel 57, Deerfield 43: At Warren, the Corsairs won the Blue Devil Classic opener, as Beth Scudder had 14 points and 7 rebounds.
Erin Quinn and Jackie Meier added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for Carmel (8-3).
Deerfield was led by Elizabeth Yucknut with 13 points. Anna Healy had 10 for the Warriors.
Grayslake Central 57, Lake Forest 20: At Warren, Skyler Jessop scored 16 points and dished out 6 assists to lead the Rams to their eighth win in a row.
Alex Scarbro had 9 points for Grayslake Central (10-2), and Rebekah Llorens and Colleen Daly contributed seven apiece.
Vernon Hills 44, Waukegan 41: At Mundelein, Meri Bennett-Swanson scored 13 points, and Lauren Webb and Abby Springer added nine each, as the Cougars (7-6) snapped a five-game losing streak.
Huntley 45, Grant 32: At Mundelein, Donnie Taggart had 11 points for the Bulldogs (3-9), who fell behind 15-4 after one quarter.