Maloney, IC Catholic win big again
Erin Maloney doesn't have to score much for IC Catholic Prep to be so valuable in the Knights' girls basketball games. It's all the other things Maloney does that make a difference.
Maloney and her teammates rolled to a 51-24 victory Thursday night against Christ the King to claim the Class 2A IC Catholic sectional championship in Elmhurst.
Maloney scored just 4 points, but she also had 6 assists and 11 rebounds, 8 of them in the second quarter.
"I guess it just depends on how the ball comes off the rim," the 5-foot-7 guard said of her rebounding prowess.
"I cannot speak enough about how intangible Erin is," Knights coach Aubree Schuett said. "She is irreplaceable in every facet. ... We're a whole different group if she's not with us because she steps up, guards the best player every single night, shuts them down. She's our senior leadership. She gets the kids hyped and ready to go. She's just a great kid."
Maloney got the Knights (19-12) started with a 15-foot jumper for a 2-0 lead, and the margin hit double digits when junior Anjella Farmer finished a fastbreak with a layup, making the score 12-2. The Gladiators (16-11) never got closer than 7 points again.
The Knights led 26-12 at halftime, then scored the first 8 points of the second half to nudge the lead past 20 points.
"That's what put us away," Gladiators coach Edward Douglas said.
The Knights pushed the lead as high as 27 points while making 56 percent of their shots from the floor in the game. They shot only 4 free throws in the game, all by freshman guard Sophie Zanoni.
Farmer led the Knights with 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Freshman Claire Gibler added 12 points, and senior Chiara Gaudio added 10 points.
The Knight have won their four playoff games by an average of 36.25 points a game.
"This team, we fight to the end no matter what the score is," Farmer said.
The Knights will meet Seton Academy in the Concordia University supersectional at 7 p.m. Monday in River Forest with a berth in the state semifinals at stake. Last year the Knights defeated Seton 40-38 in the supersectional.
"They're playing super-confident right now," Schuett said of her players. "I can definitely say that they're taking every single opponent very, very seriously."
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