Burlington Central blitzes Johnsburg early

Burlington Central wanted to get off to a fast start against Johnsburg, but not even the Rockets anticipated what awaited the Skyhawks.

Central led 28-9 after one quarter and cruised to a 73-30 win in Kishwaukee River girls basketball action Tuesday in Burlington.

The Rockets led 8-0 before Johnsburg got a shot off thanks to 4 turnovers. Then, when the Skyhawks made a run to get within 11-9, Central lowered the boom, scoring the quarter's final 17 points.

Central extended the lead to 52-19 by halftime and the second half was a formality, with the clock running throughout the fourth quarter.

Kathryn Schmidt had 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks for Central (8-1). Zoey Kollhoff added 12 points, Elana Wells 11 and Avery Anderson 10 for the Rockets.

Madelyn Menke scored 8 points as the Rockets' bench outscored Johnsburg's 28-2. Alex Lichner had 8 rebounds to go with 4 points for Burlington.

"That was not what we expected," said Central coach Mark Smith. "We obviously scouted them, but the energy we played with was incredible. We take the ball to the hole and get a lot of steals there, but offensively, I just liked the way we pushed the ball up the floor all night long."

The Rockets shot 55 percent from the field thanks to numerous layups, many caused by their pressure defense.

"In practice we've really been focusing on hitting our layups, and I got a bunch of great feeds from Elana and Kat and everybody, so it was so good to finally make some layups," said Kollhoff.

Johnsburg made one other brief push, getting within 31-14 early in the second quarter, but Central responded again. The Rockets rattled off a 17-3 run to go up 48-17.

Morgan Madsen led the Skyhawks with 15 points, but no one else had more than 6.

Wells had 11 points in the first quarter, scoring repeatedly on drives to the basket and adding a 3-pointer. Schmidt scored 8 and Kollhoff 6 in the big first quarter.