Foley, O’Brien lead the way in Warren victory

Yes, it’s time to buy those rookie cards. They might just be valuable one day.

Especially the one belonging to one Rebekah Foley of the Warren Blue Devils girls basketball team.

On Saturday night, this Warren freshman showed everyone in the Lake Zurich gym why she might be an important player to watch in the upcoming years.

No, she isn’t quite a starter yet for coach John Stanczykiewicz’s Warren team. But watch out. She’s a 5-10 guard who can do a number of positive things for her Blue Devils. Such as:

She can get to the basket in a hurry. She can step outside and drill the 3-pointer. She can make a few steals to boot. She can also crash the boards.

“She is starting to figure out varsity basketball,’’ Stanczykiewicz said.

On Saturday night in the first game of a girls-boys doubleheader, the Blue Devils never trailed from the opening bell. Leading scorer Kristen O’Brien had 18 points, and the ninth-grader Foley added 13 points in the 56-29 romp over Lake Zurich.

“We are playing pretty well,’’ Foley said. “We have good chemistry. We’ve had some injuries and I’ve had to step up. I have to play like a guard.”

O’Brien’s first of three 3-pointers gave the Blue Devils (9-18) a quick 11-2 lead. She had 6 points in the early going and actually led the the Bears (6-19) at halftime 11-10. Her teammates helped make this NSC Lake Division contest one-sided at halftime 22-10.

“Warren did an excellent job,’’ said Lake Zurich coach Chris Bennett. “They shot the ball well. They did a nice job of attacking us. Right now, we are struggling finding ways to score.”

When Foley hit her only 3-pointer of the game to beat the third-quarter buzzer, Warren led 45-17.

While Foley is the rising star, O’Brien is the steady senior who can step up at anytime and fire in the big shot. She even started the third quarter with a few airballs yet didn’t sulk and kept on firing up shots.

“I just put it behind me,’’ O’Brien said. “We wanted to win this because we were tired of losing. At the beginning of the season, we were pretty young. And we were all over the place. Now we are getting into our roles.”

Lake Zurich played better in the fourth quarter, led by the likes of Abby Pirron (8 points) and Theresa Baumann (7 points).

Still, it was Warren in command.

“I wouldn’t want to play them in the postseason,’’ Bennett said.