Balanced Aurora Christian runs past Rosary

With a group coach Burney Wilkie says is the best he's had at Aurora Christian, the Eagles are out to prove a number of things this season.

One might be that senior leadership is overrated considering the Eagles start two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, and their first three players off the bench are two more sophomores and another freshman.

All that youth sure looks good so far. A 62-29 win over Rosary on Friday at the 14th annual Hoops Happening tournament co-hosted by Aurora Christian and IMSA improves the Eagles to 3-0.

They will play Ottawa for the championship at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at IMSA.

"The chemistry of this team is really tight," said junior Anna Griffin. "It's helped us gel together in games."

Griffin, a transfer from Plainfield Central with a number of Division I offers, and freshman Aspen Weeks provide quite a boost to a lineup that includes sophomore guard Lexi Lamanna, who set the school's single season assist record as a freshman.

"When I heard Anna and Aspen and all the new additions were coming I was really excited because I thought we could really make a run at a state championship this year," Lamanna said. "I think we play really good as a team."

Lamanna got the Eagles off to a fast start Friday with back-to-back 3-pointers that hit nothing but net from the same spot on the left wing several feet behind the 3-point arc.

The Eagles extended their lead to 11-0 when Griffin banked in a shot after a spin move. Rosary finally ended its drought when Lauren Hawkins found Emily Hurst on a backdoor cut.

Griffin followed with a 3-pointer as Aurora Christian pushed its cushion to 18-5 after one quarter and 25-7 midway through the second before Griffin went to the bench with 3 fouls.

The Eagles only scored 2 points over the final four minutes of the first half. But with Griffin back on the court to start the third, Aurora Christian clicked with a 27-point quarter as Griffin (18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 blocks), Weeks (14 points), Lamanna (12 points, 5 steals) and Thaya Luse (10 points) took turns making plays, most of them in transition.

"I was not thrilled with our first half," Wilkie said. "When we have to run offense in half court we're just a good team. When we can run we are really tough to play with. We rebounded and ran and pushed the ball in the third quarter."

Megan Cibulskis and Ella Havertape both scored 6 points for the Royals.

"I thought 11 (Lamanna) hurt us," Rosary coach John Rutter said. "They are a good team. I'd like to play them again at the end of the year when we've both had time to become familiar with one and another."

Rosary (2-1) will play West Chicago (2-1) for third place at 3 p.m. Saturday.

"As you can see we've got to find some offense," Rutter said. "We play OK on defense but if we aren't scoring the ball it makes it difficult."