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Burlington Central takes consolation title at Dundee-Crown

Gritty determination won the Burlington Central girls basketball team a little redemption Wednesday.

Actually, it won the Rockets the consolation championship of the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic, by virtue of a 46-32 victory over Naperville Central.

But in doing so, the Rockets redeemed a 42-39 loss to Crystal Lake South in the tournament's first game — the only blemish on an 11-1 record.

It also set the table for what promises to be a tough post-New Year's schedule, which kicks off Tuesday night at home against Big Northern East rival Johnsburg, which is 14-1 this season.

“It's good (to win), especially after the first night when we were disappointed we didn't play as well as we wanted to and lost that first game,” said Burlington Central coach Mark Smith. “We made a goal, let's win the rest.”

Added senior forward Sam Pryor, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds: “We met our goal, we wanted to win a championship coming here so the consolation championship is good, too.”

The Rockets used an 11-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to push a slim 28-22 lead at the end of the third to a much more comfortable 41-27 advantage with 1:19 to go.

But that belied the physical defensive work Burlington Central used against the pesky Redhawks, especially considering senior forward Rebecca Gerke, playing with 3 fouls, was lost for good midway through the fourth-quarter run with an ankle injury.

No problem. The Rockets got solid minutes from her replacements, junior Madison Hodgson and Kristina Ahlers, while Pryor picked up the scoring slack by tallying 7 of her team-high 12 points in the fourth-quarter run.

In all, the Rockets held the Redhawks to 24 percent shooting for the game (10-for-41), including just 1-for-16 from the 3-point line, that shot coming from senior Hannah Swarm with 53.9 seconds left to stop the big run.

But by then, it was too late for Naperville Central, although sophomore Mia Lakstigala led all scorers with 13 points, all in the second half. She and Swarm co-led the Redhawks with 6 rebounds.

“They're a physical team, they're bigger than we are and we didn't handle them well,” said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum. “We have to learn to deal with that a little better than what we did. I thought we had some looks and weren't able to sink our shots.”

The Rockets used a 7-2 run to start the game, and then fashioned another one late in the second quarter to take a 22-17 halftime lead. That helped the Rockets shoot 40 percent from the field (18-for-44).

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