Burlington Central closes door on Bartlett
Bartlett opened the door and Burlington Central was happy to close it.
The Hawks allowed BC to dominate the paint in the third quarter Friday night and when that happened, the Rockets were able to take control of a close game and eventually down Bartlett 52-44 in the opening round of the 32nd annual Charger Classic girls basketball tournament at Dundee-Crown.
Burlington Central moves into the quarterfinals where it will take on defending tournament champion New Trier, which beat Dundee-Crown 74-44 Friday, in a battle of unbeaten teams at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Senior Alison Colby had 12 points and 9 rebounds to lead a balanced scoring attack for Burlington Central (10-0).
"Alison Colby had a big game," said BC coach Mark Smith. "She was dynamite on the boards and one of our plans was to stop (Bartlett's Kelly) Harris inside and she did a nice job on her."
The Rockets trailed 19-14 after one quarter as Bartlett (7-5) hit 6 of its 8 shots in the first quarter, including 3-pointers from Nicole Gerdevich, Nina Pavel and Lauren Janczak.
But BC came out on a 9-0 run to start the second quarter as Colby made 2 free throws and senior Aly DeTamble and junior Sam Pryor knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give Central a 23-19 lead with 6:41 to play in the first half. Even though they gave up the lead briefly a little over a minute later, the momentum had clearly swung and Central led 30-27 at halftime after junior Kayla Ross (8 points, 3 assists, 3 steals) hit a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer within 27 seconds of each other.
A 9-4 run to start the third quarter, with all 9 points coming from possessions in the paint, gave the Rockets a 39-31 lead after a Kristina Ahlers layup with 4:15 left in the period.
A 3-pointer from junior Shelby Holt (10 points) with 27 seconds left in the frame gave the Rockets a 43-33 lead going to the fourth and Bartlett never got closer than 8 the rest of the way.
"They were leaving the lanes open and when we started cutting in the middle things opened up," said Colby. "It's great to come out here and play against great competition. Challenge is always good."
"I thought the second half was much better," said Smith, whose team was 20 of 39 shooting including 8-for-13 in the second half. "We had 11 days off and it looked like it in the first half. We weren't as sharp as we normally are but that's a well-coached team and it was nice to see that kind of pressure. We don't see that in the Big Northern (Conference). We definitely had our hands full.
"I also thought Kristina Ahlers did a nice job off the bench for us tonight."
Pavel led Bartlett with 11 points, while Kaitlin Brohan, Janczak and Harris added 7 each. The Hawks played without junior guard Shelly Lyjak, who is attending a college showcase for soccer.
"The intensity we're attacking the game with has to be four quarters long and that's been happening to us all season," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. "There was a 2-3 minute span in the third quarter where they went ahead and we couldn't catch up. We can't do that against good teams and they're a good team.
"We've got a lot of players who are specialists on one end of the floor and not the other end but we're learning through that."