Big 2nd half lifts St. Edward over ICCP
Just about any first half, no matter how bad, can be overcome with the right adjustments at halftime.
St. Edward certainly proved that on Tuesday night. After scoring just 3 baskets from the field in the first half, the Green Wave did a complete turnaround in the second half to overcome a 9-point halftime deficit and pull away to a 62-47 win over visiting IC Catholic Prep in Metro Suburban West girls basketball action on Tuesday.
Katie Castoro led the second half surge scoring all 19 of her game-high points in the final 2 quarters. Maddie Spagnola added 18 points.
"Their size was giving us problems and they put a box on Maddie that really stalled our offense in the first half," St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. "So we talked about at halftime that if they are going to focus on Maddie the other four players on the floor have to step. We also emphasized getting more ball movement on the perimeter to draw their big players out. In the first half we were just trying to take the ball in after one pass and were getting stopped. In the second half we spread the floor with 4 or 5 passes and then took it the hole."
Castoro stepped up in a big way in the third quarter when she scored 14 points as St. Edward pulled even at 38-38 on a Spagnola 3-pointer late in the quarter after trailing 24-15 at halftime.
"The box-and-one on Maddie really stopped us in the first half," Castoro said. "Our whole offense flows through her. But coach talked at halftime about somebody needing to step up and help out and I'm a captain so I felt I needed to get myself more involved and start making some big shots. My favorite thing is to take the ball to the basket so that's what I started doing."
The Green Wave (14-10, 6-5) eventually pulled ahead for good 45-44 with 3:40 left to play on a pair of free throws from Spagnola. St. Edward went on to score 17 straight unanswered points down the stretch to pull away. Spagnola had a pair of clutch buckets during the run and Castoro added one. The Green Wave hit 14-of-17 free throws in the fourth to help seal the deal.
ICCP (10-13, 3-8) missed its last 7 shots and turned the ball over 7 times in the fourth quarter after playing stellar in the first half.
"We stopped playing as a team," Knights coach Kelsey James said. "They started attacking more and we couldn't stop them."