ICCP shuts down Rapp, St. Edward
In the first meeting of the season IC Catholic Prep couldn't contain St. Edward's Cece Rapp as she scored 19 points in a Green Wave win. However, the Knights were determined not to let that happen again on Tuesday night in the rematch.
Rapp got in early foul trouble and was ineffective the rest of the game as she managed just 4 points. IC took full advantage as it went on to a 37-25 girls basketball win on the road in Metro Suburban West action.
"That was the plan," ICCP coach Aubree Schuett said of shutting down Rapp. "We were tossing around a couple different ideas on how to stop her and we decided we would give her a little more contact and see how she would respond. Have to hand it to our players for taking a plan and executing it. Everybody helped out to keep her off the glass and make it tough on her in the paint."
ICCP (15-10, 6-7) held the Green Wave to just 10-of-41 (24 percent) shooting from the field.
"I know I am a little bias, but I think the defensive side of the ball is our biggest strength," Schuett said. "We are really good at rotating and understanding help side. Erin (Maloney) is just a great shutdown defender and our guards did a great job of closing on their shooters.'
Tess Reardon hit a couple 3-pointers in the first half to help give the Knights a 20-15 halftime lead. The Green Wave got to within 25-22 on a Katelyn Castoro bucket with 4:01 left to play.
However, the Knights knocked down 11-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal the win. Chiara Gaudio led the parade to the free throw line and hit 7-of-8. She finished with a game-high 9 points.
Rapp picked up her second foul less than 6 minutes into the game. She sat out for more than 6 minutes before picking up her third foul just before the half. She missed nearly 12 minutes total.
The Green Wave (16-8, 6-5) managed just 10 points from the middle of the second quarter on.
"We were just very out of sync offensively," St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. "We rely on Cece offensively, but we have enough talent without her to where we should be able to put the ball in the basket and tonight we just couldn't get into any kind of rhythm."
Castoro had 7 points to lead the Green Wave in scoring