Whitley's 27 help Geneva drop St. Charles East
While it is true that Geneva's girls basketball roster lists Margaret Whitley as a sophomore, the 5-foot-9 guard plays much older than her years.
Whitley scored 8 of her game-high 27 points during the final 3 minutes as the Vikings (17-3) improved to 8-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division with a 66-57 triumph over St. Charles East (8-14, 4-4) Saturday night in St. Charles.
"She's a stud," Vikings coach Sarah Meadows said of Whitley, who added 3 steals, 3 assists and a blocked shot. "She has an all-around game and she's only a sophomore. We have three sophomores that play huge minutes for us and you sometimes forget because they play at such a high level."
Whitley connected on her first three 3-point attempts as she poured in 14 first-quarter points.
"When I shoot well at the beginning, it gives me that confidence," said Whitley. "Being able to attack the basket and being able to create things for my teammates and for our team to score, it gives you that confidence from the start which allows you to get through the end of the game."
Geneva needed all of Whitley's instant offense at the outset because the Saints had a lethal weapon of their own in senior guard Kelly Rinker.
Rinker made her first 3 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, as the Saints trailed 19-18 after a frenetic first quarter.
"If we can get her going early, it really affects us for the rest of the game," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said of Rinker. "Other teams can't focus so much on Sara (Rosenfeldt) and if they do they pay the penalty for it."
Rinker, who finished with a team-high 19 points, added two more 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Saints continued to stay right with the Vikings.
Geneva led 33-32 at halftime behind Whitley's 19-point barrage.
"I had no idea she had 19 points in the first half until I saw that board," Meadows said of the Saints' huge scoreboard.
On the other hand, the Vikings had yet to involve 6-2 junior center Grace Loberg in their offensive plans.
"We really talked at halftime that Grace only had one or two shot attempts so we said, 'Marge is playing lights out but we've got to get touches inside,' " said Meadows.
Loberg scored all 13 of her points in the second half to go with 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
"It all came together in the fourth quarter," said Meadows, whose team outscored the Saints 23-14 during the final 8 minutes.
The Saints' Rosenfeldt had 16 points and 7 rebounds while Marissa Urso came off the bench to score 10 points and Hannah Vitkus added 8 points and 10 rebounds.
"I was pleased with the way we fought," said Drumtra. "Geneva is a good team and it went down to the last couple of minutes."