ICCP wins Elmhurst rivalry game vs. Timothy Christian
An important contributor to IC Catholic Prep teams that have made it state in each of the past two seasons, Anjella Farmer admitted that it has been a struggle at times for her on the basketball court this winter.
But that all changed on Friday night.
Coming off the bench, Farmer poured in a game-high 21 points in the Knights' 48-33 win over Timothy Christian in a Metro Suburban Conference crossover game in Elmhurst.
Entering the contest at the start of the second quarter, the senior added 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.
"I haven't been like that in a long time," Farmer said. "That gives me a big boost in confidence, for sure."
IC Catholic coach Kelsey James knew that type of performance was within Farmer.
"We brought her off the bench and she embraced that," James said. "I'm very happy with how she played. Right after the game, we told her, that's what we've been waiting for. We knew she could do it."
Farmer scored 7 points in the second quarter as the home team extended a 3-point margin to 22-16 at halftime. She then poured in 10 of the Knights' 12 points in the third as IC Catholic (7-8) built the advantage to 9 heading into the final eight minutes.
Claire Gibler, part of a starting lineup that included four sophomores and one freshman, added 9 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Leslie Montoya contributed 8 points in the fourth quarter.
"It was a really good win for us," Farmer said. "We hadn't played a game in two or three weeks. We were pretty rusty but we came in confident. We've made so much progress. Obviously, we are very young, but they want to learn so much."
Ten IC players recorded rebounds in the contest.
"That is what we've been stressing," James said. "In order to be successful, we have to play 11 girls and have 11 girls contribute. And they are starting to see that's important."
Timothy Christian (6-10) got to within one point in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Grace Miller before the Knights pulled away. Olivia Hoekstra had 7 points and 4 steals, while Miller and Dani VanLaten both scored 6.
"Rebounding, that was the big difference," Timothy Christian coach Michele Strube said. "Their two bigs scored 22 points in the second half. That was it. I was proud of our offense, I was proud of our aggressiveness."