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Maine West still unbeaten after handling Evanston

After falling behind Evanston 8-2 in the championship game of the Schaumburg Thanksgiving tournament less than three weeks ago, Maine West's girls basketball team wanted to get the upper hand in Tuesday's nonconference rematch.

Sure enough, with junior Dylan VanFleet scoring the first 2 points of her game-high 17 to start the game, the Warriors got off to a 6-2 lead and never looked back in a 60-46 triumph over the visiting Wildkits.

West (13-0) handed Evanston (9-2) its second loss of the season, the first coming at the Schaumburg tourney when it rallied for a 58-34 win.

This time, despite playing without 6-foot-4 standout junior Angela Dugalic for nearly half of the game due to foul trouble, the Warriors never needed to rally.

In fact, when Dugalic left the game with her third foul and 4:49 left in the first half, West actually went on a 7-2 run that included a 3-pointer and fastbreak layup by VanFleet and a layup by Jocelyn Jacob with the assist going to VanFleet.

"We lost a lot of height when Angela went out so everyone knew they had to step up and support each other," said Van Fleet, who had a terrific all-around game collecting 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

"The first time we played was pretty early in the season and we started out slower. We wanted to get the upper hand right away this time because it's a really a confidence booster to get ahead."

Jacobs' 3-pointer gave West a 27-18 lead and the Warriors led 30-20 at the half following a fastbreak layup by Lena Albo and a free throw from Dillon.

Evanston never got closer than 5 points in the second half. It was 48-43 with 4:10 left in the game but West closed on a 12-3 run getting 4 free throws from Dugalic, who also sat out from 5:01 of the third quarter to six minutes of the fourth.

"We did it without Angela for almost half of the game," said Warriors coach Kim de Marigny. "This team has a lot of heart. Regardless of their size, these girls have a lot of fight in them. They just came to play. They had to pick up their teammate (Dugalic), and that's what they did."

Amber Gentle (19 points), a 6-2 junior, and 5-10 classmate Jayla Turchin (11 points) led Evanston.

"We had a game plan but then in the first five minutes we just didn't follow it," said Wildkits coach Brittany Johnson. "I think a lot of it was Maine West. They're a very good defensive team and they force you out of a lot of things. They run a lot of different defenses to confuse you and we just did not do a good job of handling it. I think it's 50 percent on them and 50 percent on us. Give them credit because they are a very good team."

Also reaching double figures for West were Dugalic (13 points) and Rachel Kent (11 points).

Jacobs and Albo both chipped in 7.

VanFleet enjoyed her second-highest scoring game of the season.

She had 23 points against Rufus King (WI) at the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase 11 days ago.

"Dylan has a huge heart," de Marigny said. "She is really tenacious defensively. Offensively, she is starting to look for her shot a little more. She is starting to realize she can be a contributor in all areas, driving to the basket and taking shots from the outside. She is really coming around."

The Warriors had six 3-pointers in the game.

"They are shooting them more confidently," de Marigny said. "They feel confident they can hit them and that is the first step in taking them."

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