Defense carries Bartlett past West Aurora
Lacking in team size, Bartlett's girls basketball team knows that in order to be successful this season it will have to play solid defense.
That was evident on Thursday night in Bartlett when the Hawks used an aggressive smothering defense to help force West Aurora into 25 turnovers in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division opener for both teams.
The defense, coupled with enough offense, sparked Bartlett to a 48-27 win.
"We've said that defense is going to have to be our bread and butter," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. "We did a nice job on defense tonight and I think our offense will continue to get better."
The Hawks (4-2, 1-0) broke away from an 11-11 tie after one quarter to limit West Aurora to just 3 points on 1 of 11 shooting in the second quarter, when the Blackhawks (2-4, 0-1) also had 7 turnovers as Bartlett took a 28-14 lead into halftime. Hawks' junior Shelly Lyjak scored 6 of her 8 points in the second quarter and had 2 steals.
"I was really pleased with our defense tonight," Lyjak said. "Our defense really stepped it up and whatever happened on defense we turned into offense. We have a lot of speed and that helps a lot. It was a total team effort on defense."
The Blackhawks continued to struggle shooting in the second half, going just 1-for-10 in the third quarter as Bartlett opened up a 20-point lead, 38-18, by the end of the third. The Hawks' biggest lead came early in the fourth quarter, 42-20. West Aurora finished the game shooting just 17 percent (9-for-52). Juniors Ashley Williams and Carley Frauenhoff led the Blackhawks with 10 and 9 points respectively.
"We just couldn't buy a basket and (Bartlett's) defense was great," said West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl, whose team has no seniors. "We made some bad decisions and some bad shots but I believe in them. We only have two players who played varsity last year and we're going through some growing pains."
Siljendahl was encouraged with her team's work on the boards. The Blackhawks won the rebounding battle, 41-35, led by 9 from Williams.
"We outrebounded them and that was one of our goals," Siljendahl said. "We just have to look at the good things we're doing and then look at the things we need to change and we will. They're young but they're like little sponges and they work hard."
Offensively, the Hawks spread the wealth. Freshman Kayla Hare led Bartlett with 9 points, all on 3-pointers. Junior Kaitlyn Brohan had 7 points and junior Amia Akwiwu added 6 off the bench as 10 Hawks scored in the game. Bartlett shot 38.6 percent (17 of 44) from the field.
"Offensively everyone will have their day," said Sarna, who was pleased with the inside presence of 6-foot-1 junior Kelly Harris, who had 5 points and 7 rebounds. "We just need to play together and play unselfish basketball.
"I was happy with the poise we showed and the fact we made good offensive decisions."