Aurora Central Catholic finishes tourney 3-1

Aurora Central Catholic junior point guard Alex Johnston realizes the importance of getting everyone involved in the offense.

Johnston played a stellar all-around game, collecting 8 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals and 5 assists to lift the Chargers to a 47-17 victory over Hinckley-Big Rock Friday night at the Somonauk Breakout girls basketball tournament.

Junior forward Shakira DelToro tallied a game-high 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Aurora Central, which finished the tournament with a solid 3-1 mark.

Nine different Chargers scored in the first half as they built a commanding 29-11 lead.

"We're coming together as a team, getting our posts working," Johnston said. "Passing the ball, getting steals, slowing the ball down and being efficient when we have to. All good things are happening."

"We're very fortunate to have an inside-outside game," added Chargers' coach Mark Fitzgerald. "We have a lot of height and when we learn to use it properly it's a good weapon."

Johnston tallied 6 quick points and distributed assists to Jessica Anger and Veronica LaVia inside as the Chargers seized a 10-0 lead in the opening four minutes.

The Royals (1-3) crept back to within 12-7, but Gina Cortino connected on a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, triggering another 9-0 Chargers' run.

In the third quarter, a trio of Johnston steals led to transition points. DelToro added a pair of follow-up baskets and scored on a nice feed from Cortino for a 41-13 lead.

"Alex loves the game. She works harder than anybody I've ever seen at getting better and you can see the results," Fitzgerald said. "She's only a junior, so there's a lot of upside. All of our really tall kids except one are juniors so we're hopefully going to mature together as a group and do some things.

Anger finished with 6 points and 6 rebounds while Taylor Harazin, LaVia and Olivia Saucedo added 4 points each.

The Chargers forced Hinckley-Big Rock into 33 turnovers, but committed 20 of their own.

"There were some miscues, but as the game progressed they did an excellent job," Fitzgerald said. "We're trying so hard to get it into the bigs that sometimes we need to study a little more on our geometry. There are some angles that are a problem."

After posting tournament wins over Seneca and Sandwich, coupled with a 42-38 loss to Newark, the Chargers have 11 days off before taking on Glenbard South.

"I think it was a good start, but we have a lot to work on," Fitzgerald said. "I purposely loaded our schedule this year, so we look at this tournament as a way to work out the kinks."