Proviso East roars back to beat Stevenson

Proviso East’s girls basketball team overcame a 12-point halftime to defeat visiting Stevenson 42-32 in the Suburban Holiday Showcase in Maywood on Friday.

“The first half was outstanding on both ends of the court for us,” Stevenson coach Tom Dineen said. “We looked like a million bucks. Unfortunately, the game is 32 minutes long.”

The Patriots (10-5, 1-2) shot 45 percent (10 of 22) from the field, while limiting the Pirates (12-2, 3-0) to 19-percent shooting (4 of 21) in the first half. Proviso East also committed 14 turnovers.

Katie Batman scored all 9 of her points in the first half in helping Stevenson take a 26-14 advantage into halftime.

But in the second half, the Patriots couldn’t find the basket. They got outscored 13-0 and trailed 27-26 heading into the final quarter.

“We’re not going to win too many games when you have more turnovers than points,” Dineen said. “Second half, I couldn’t find anybody who could handle the ball and make a good decision with it. We’re not going to beat too many teams doing it that way.”

Proviso East scored the first 9 points of the fourth to complete a 22-0 run. Stevenson finally scored when Alex Elzinga (5 points) hit 2 free throws with 4:35 left.

The Patriots’ Taylor Buford (8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) hit a short-range jump shot to cut the Pirates’ lead to 36-30 with 2:15 left, but Proviso East extended the lead back out to 10 points over the last couple of minutes.

“As well as we played in the first half, we played that poorly in the second half,” Dineen said.

Stevenson made just 1 of 14 shots in the second half and committed 12 turnovers.

“(Proviso East) was a good team and congratulations to them,” Dineen said. “(Our turnovers) are unacceptable. I’m very disappointed and embarrassed. We didn’t look like a varsity basketball team in that second half.”

Jakeisha Wells (13 rebounds, 2 blocked shots) and Demetria Watson led the Pirates with 12 points apiece.

“We just picked up our defensive tempo,” Proviso East coach Ezra Pridgeon said. “We played lackluster defense in the first half. We came out and didn’t move our feet at first, but we started moving, reacting and being more aggressive.”