Geneva runs past Streamwood
Of the three knockout punches Geneva delivered to Streamwood Thursday night, the only one that mattered to Sabres coach George Rosner was the first.
With the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title on the line, the Vikings hit Streamwood from the opening tip and didn’t let up in a dominating 73-48 victory in Geneva.
Geneva (20-6, 10-1) clinched a share of the conference title which it can win outright by beating St. Charles East Friday night. It’s the third straight conference championship and fifth in six years under coach Gina Nolan for Geneva, which also reached 20 wins Thursday for the sixth straight season.
The Sabres (19-5, 8-2), bidding for their first conference title since 1987-88, fell behind 9-0 less than 3 minutes into the game. Geneva’s Ohio-bound point guard Kat Yelle opened the scoring with a layup off a steal, the start of her 20-point, 6-steal, 7-assist night.
“The start of the game was the game,” Rosner said. “We didn’t come out well and they took it to us. We never recovered from that start.”
Batavia is the only team in the last six years to deny Geneva a conference title, winning the Western Sun in 2007-08. The Vikings made their first season in the UEC a championship one.
“We were really excited,” said Geneva senior Katelyn Allen, one of four Vikings in double figures Thursday. “This is our first time in this conference and we wanted to win it. It’s really important. We write downs goals at the stat of every season and that’s always one.”
A layup from Kelsey Pease ended Geneva’s opening 9-0 run. Jessica Cerda drained the first of her four 3-pointers to get the Sabres on the board at the 5:07 mark. Geneva led 15-7 after the first quarter.
“I thought from the minute the ball went up we played with great intensity and took it to them,” Nolan said. “With an opponent with this much on the line it was great to see the girls rise to the challenge.”
The second of Geneva’s monster runs came at the start of the second quarter, a 15-2 burst that ended with the Vikings ahead 30-9. Ashley Santos got it started with a basket, Yelle converted a 3-point play and Santos nailed a long jumper. Even when Yelle went to the bench with her second foul the Vikings kept the momentum going with a Santos assist to Allen and then Rachel Hinchman’s feed to Pease.
Streamwood’s best stretch came in the final two minutes of the first half with 9 unanswered points, bringing the Sabres within 30-18 at halftime.
After the teams played a back-and-forth third quarter that Geneva won 20-19, the Vikings started the fourth quarter with their final spurt. The Vikings scored the first 11 points to blow open a 50-37 game into a 61-37 lead.
It was vintage Geneva fastbreak basketball that put the game away. Yelle assisted the first three baskets — one to Santos, and a pair to Sammy Scofield — before Scofield returned the favor finding Yelle with a pinpoint bounce pass in transition for a layup.
In addition to Yelle’s 20 points, Santos scored 19 and had 3 steals, Allen had 14 points and 6 rebounds and Scofield finished with 11 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. Pease added 6 points and 6 rebounds as part of a much easier win than a 61-52 margin in the first game with Streamwood.
“Our mindset is we want to give it all and get ready for the playoffs,” said Yelle, a four-year varsity player now with a 104-16 record in that span.
“During the season, back when we played them it was different. We were adjusting. But now we have picked up what we need to work on in practices.”
Michelle Tomczak scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half to lead Streamwood. She also grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Sabres to a 32-27 advantage, offset by 8 more turnovers than the Vikings and Geneva shooting nearly 50 percent (31 of 64) from the field. Cerda added 13 points.
“We never really shut them down defensively,” Rosner said. “That was our poorest defensive effort but they are a very good team. Kat Yelle is the best guard that we play against all year. She does things that other guards can’t do.
“We could play a lot better. We didn’t get 19 wins coming out here and fooling around. We’re a good team.”