Geneva pulls away from Bartlett
Grace Loberg didn't sell popcorn in the concession stand before Tuesday's Class 4A Geneva sectional semifinal. She didn't sing the national anthem before the game or sweep the floor at halftime.
And that pretty much ends the list of what Geneva's 6-foot-2 sophomore center didn't do.
Loberg dominated the game on both ends against No. 6 seed Bartlett, filling up the stat sheet with 23 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 5 steals in the Vikings' 49-40 victory.
No. 2 seed Geneva (22-6) will play No. 4 St. Charles East (22-7) at 7 p.m. Thursday looking for its fifth sectional girls basketball title in the past seven years. The Saints, who won their only one in 1987, split with Geneva in the regular season.
Loberg's college future lies in volleyball at Wisconsin, but you can bet every Viking fan is glad she still plays two sports. Senior Abby Novak also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and after that no Viking had more than 6 points.
“She manages an extremely busy schedule with volleyball and basketball and I am so thankful she does,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “We are not the team we are without Grace Loberg.”
Bartlett (20-10) made life difficult for the Vikings from the start. While the Vikings led for most of the first half, the margin never grew bigger than 5 points.
Bartlett took two brief leads and each time Geneva immediately answered. After Kaitlin Brohan's layup put the Hawks up 7-6, Geneva freshman Stephanie Hart had drive of her own to make it 8-7.
Trailing 12-10 after one quarter, Shelley Lyjak swished a 3-pointer to open the second quarter and put the Hawks ahead 13-12. That turned out to be their last lead of the night, yet they stayed within 25-22 at halftime when Nicole Gerdevich scored on a putback just before the buzzer.
“We talked at halftime that we have to be better,” Meadows said. “Offensively we were kind of a disaster in the first half. Part of that is we are playing with young kids and some of that is jitters and nerves but that's got to last for maybe two minutes and then we have to go.”
Geneva starts a pair of freshmen guards in Hart and Margaret Whitley. Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said her team's defense deserves much of the credit for holding the Vikings below their season scoring average and forcing 18 turnovers.
“This happens to us a lot,” Sarna said. “Everybody comes off and says they have to play better and they didn't play a very good game but I'd like to think our defense was a contributing factor to that. I think our defense was really solid.”
Lauren Janczak, the lone senior in Bartlett's starting lineup, split free throws to open the second half. The Hawks then missed their next 10 shots and didn't score for seven minutes while Geneva extended its lead from 25-23 to 36-25.
“We went through a little cold spell and that was the turning point of the game,” Sarna said. “They are a good team and it's hard to give them a lead and have to battle back. We just went cold and that's the game of basketball.”
During Geneva's 11-0 run that broke the game open, Hart started it with a drive, and moments later she found Loberg open for one of her 4 assists.
“I've been trying to get in the lane and get it to Grace more often,” Hart said.
Novak had a putback and 2 free throws in the surge. She finished 6 of 6 at the line.
“The third quarter they responded,” Meadows said. “It's good to see. It wasn't our best game. We survived to play on Thursday and we know we have to do better on Thursday.”
Loberg capped her big night with 8 points in the fourth quarter to never let Bartlett got closer than 9 points.
“It was hard for us to match up with Grace,” Sarna said. “She's a good player and when you have a team around with other players of their caliber you kind of have to pick your poison. I thought we shut down a lot of good scorers. I thought we didn't make it easy on them.”
Loberg echoed her coach's sentiment that Geneva won without playing its best game and that they need to play better to beat a St. Charles East team that defeated them 66-54 on Jan. 24.
“I know we could have played better but a win is a win,” Loberg said.
Brohan played a valiant game in defeat scoring more than half her team's points with 21 plus 7 rebounds and 5 steals.
“I thought Kaitlin had a great game, scored, rebounded, did all the things she's capable of doing,” Sarna said. “The tough part on our team this year is the inconsistency of the supporting cast. Every game we have different players that can contribute and score but we needed some consistency, we needed somebody to help out a little. Today we didn't get that second or third player to knock some shots down or get some putbacks. I think that was the difference in the game.”
The Hawks couldn't overcome their 13 for 49 shooting from the field. After staying within 18-16 of Geneva on the glass in the first half, Geneva outrebounded Bartlett 23-10 in the second half for a 41-26 edge.
Brohan didn't quit, scoring 9 of her points in the fourth including a layup at the buzzer.
“We were down by a little bit but our girls kept fighting,” Brohan said.
Starters Brohan, Kelly Harris, Nicole Gerdevich and Lyjak all return.
“We do return a lot of players and I think making it to this level is sometimes a driving and motivating force in the off-season,” Sarna said. “We look forward to the future, the future looks bright. It doesn't make today any easier. It was a great season for our girls. When you look at this team at the beginning of the year we've come a long way.”