Lisle trounces Hinckey-Big Rock
For the second time in a week, the Lisle girls basketball team faced Hinckley-Big Rock and again left the Lisle gym with a victory.
After leading 16-4 after the first eight minutes, the Lions (11-4) never looked back Monday and earned a 51-23 win. The previous Monday, Lisle had defeated the Royals 44-30 in the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic.
Lisle coach Nick Balaban saw differences in the two victories.
"Last week when we played them, we didn't deny their cuts enough and didn't box out enough. At times tonight we didn't box out, but we took away their cuts. We tried to minimize their top player from getting the ball back and they had to look elsewhere offensively."
When the Royals (4-14) called a timeout with 4:55 remaining in the opening quarter, the Lions led 10-0 on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, while Hinckley-Big Rock was 0 of 3 with three turnovers. Lisle finished the quarter shooting 50 percent.
The Royals' Emily Southern hit for a 3-point basket that pulled her team to within single digits of Lisle, 19-10, with 5:23 remaining until halftime. The Lions, however, finished out the first half on a 13-3 run to lead 32-13 and maintained a healthy double-digit advantage for the rest of the game.
Lisle shot 40 percent to lead 41-20 at the end of 24 minutes.
Four Lisle players each led their team with 8 points each - Natalie Takahashi, Sammi Maas, Abbey Kretman and Nicole Cyranoski. TyAnn Legrand-Melton put through 7 points.
Balaban said he liked seeing the balanced offense that the Lions showed and said that's crucial to have consistently and not just rely on a couple of players.
"If two or three other players can step up and take shots that will open our offense and we'll get better looks," he said.
What also pleased Balaban was seeing Lisle grab a big lead early and hold onto it.
"We've played 15 games. In 10 of those, we've gotten off to a good start and jump out to an 8-, 9-, 10-point lead. But we always managed to let teams back in and not increase out lead. That didn't happen tonight. I liked our intensity."
Lisle is back on its home court Thursday night for a big Interstate Eight Conference game against Sandwich.
"We're 4-1, Peotone is 4-1 and Sandwich is 3-1. It's a key game and we would certainly like to have the one-game advantage," Balaban said. "We're still a young team. And we don't have the size advantage that we had in the past. But if we play defense and rebound, we can play with most teams."