Coal City shuts down Wheaton Academy
Wheaton Academy saw first hand just how tough unbeaten Coal City can be on defense.
The Coalers’ man-to-man defense gave the Warriors fits in Saturday’s semifinal of the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic as Coal City prevailed 47-31 to advance to Monday’s championship matchup with St. Edward.
Wheaton Academy (9-5) trailed 24-11 at the half after managing just two free throws in the second quarter and shooting 4 of 18 from the floor through two quarters. The Warriors did close to within 28-22 following a basket by Molly Thorson late in the third quarter, but 14-0 Coal City answered that basket with a 3-pointer from Nicole Borgetti and then closed out the game strong.
“We knew it was coming ... their man (defense), we just didn’t really execute our offense,” said Warriors guard Jamie Netzley, who scored 8 points. “We had a good halftime talk that pumped us up and we tried to get out of the hole we put ourselves in. We got it closer in the third quarter and then we seemed to get tired in the fourth quarter.”
Coal City forced 12 Warriors turnovers in the first half, and with Emily Halliday and Carly Pavlis each making 3-pointers, the Coalers jumped out to an 18-9 lead after one quarter. The lead grew to 13 points at the break after Wheaton Academy could muster just 2 points in the second quarter.
“We wanted to come out and play better defensively than we did our first two games here,” Coal City coach Brad Schmitt said. “It looked like our feet were a little bit lighter tonight and I felt we were the aggressors. That really helped, especially early on I think it kept them off balance that first half.”
Coal City guards Halliday, Borgetti and Brittany Jezik combined for 8 steals but also made sure the Warriors got few clean looks at the basket from the perimeter.
“We’ve got to find a way to respond when people get out in the passing lanes and frustrate us. You’ve got to be able to work harder to get open so we can run offense. That’s something we’re working on,” Warriors coach Beth Mitchell said. “You’ve got to play every possession hard. We haven’t found a way to do that, but I was proud of the way we responded in the third quarter and hopefully we can build on it.”
Early in that third quarter, center Christina Garrison recorded a block on one end and Elizabeth Melby knocked down a 3 on the other end. A layup by Alexandria Johnston followed and the Warriors were on the their way to tallying 13 points in the quarter, two more than they totaled in the first half.
But Coal City opened the fourth quarter with three straight baskets for a 40-24 lead and held on from there. Wheaton Academy will play in the third-place game Monday night at Lisle against Antioch, which lost its semifinal battle to St. Edward 51-50.