Geneva starts fast, blows out Fenwick
Concerned about Geneva’s slow starts recently, Sarah Meadows watched her team ease her mind by scoring the first 10 points of a nonconference game with Fenwick Wednesday night in Geneva.
The Vikings raced to leads of 19-2 after one quarter and 40-9 at halftime on their way to a 66-36 victory over a Fenwick team in the midst of its worst season in 20 years.
“When they had to call a timeout (down 10-0), I said ‘This is the way it’s supposed to be,’” Meadows said.
Fenwick (8-16), missing two injured starters, lost for the ninth time in its last 10 games as it appears headed for its first losing season since 1994. One of the injured starters is all-state point guard Jade Owens (foot), a Creighton commit.
The way Geneva (16-5) played it might not have mattered if Fenwick was completely healthy and had a couple alums return from its glory teams.
Morgan Seberger (11 points) took a pass from Sidney Santos and buried a 3-pointer just 8 seconds into the game. Fenwick missed its first 11 shots and turned the ball over 5 times before finally getting on the board with 1:49 left in the first quarter.
Santos immediately came back with a drive for 2, Courtney Reynolds nailed the first of her three 3s, Santos threw a perfect bullet pass from half-court for an assist to Janie McCloughan, and Loberg scored inside for a 17-point lead after one quarter.
“When we dig ourselves a hole it’s hard to bounce back but when we come out strong and ready it just carries us through,” McCloughan said.
The Vikings outscored Fenwick 21-7 in the second quarter. Reynolds hit back-to-back 3s late in the quarter on her way to a career-high 9 points, while Loberg had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks by halftime.
“That was fun,” Meadows said of Reynolds’ shooting. “And they were all perfect. One time the net barely moved.”
Geneva took its biggest lead early in the fourth quarter at 61-27 on a pretty feed from Bella Medina to McCloughan for a fastbreak layup. McCloughan made all 10 of her free throws on her way to a game-high 20 points.
“I’ve been staying after practice a lot and getting some bunnies and free throws in and I think that’s paying off,” McCloughan said.
Fenwick hit just 1 of 16 shots in the first quarter, the start of a 27-percent shooting night (17 for 63). Geneva also dominated the glass, 51-30. Loberg led with 13 rebounds to go with 12 points while Santos (6 assists, 3 steals) and McCloughan both chipped in 7 boards.
“We came out too slow, too sluggish,” Fenwick coach Dave Powers said. “They were a step ahead all the time, shot well. We’re just in a tough situation when you have an all-stater sitting on the bench but no excuse. They played very well. They beat us fair and square. Geneva has a nice team. They could make some noise at the end of the year.”