Dundee-Crown can't keep up with Hononegah
DeKALB - The Dundee-Crown Chargers pretty much knew what they had to do against Hononegah. They just weren't able to do it.
The Indians scored the first 14 points and coasted to a 68-33 win in the semifinals of the Class 4A De Kalb girls basketball sectional Tuesday night.
Paige Gieseke and Allison Michalski scored 10 points apiece for the Chargers, who finished the season at 15-18.
Hononegah (28-3) will take on Huntley (29-3) in the 7 p.m. championship game Thursday. Huntley defeated Crystal Lake South 56-43 in Tuesday's second semifinal.
The Chargers didn't score until Gieseke made a layup in the final minute of the first quarter. By then, the Indians led 14-0 and the Chargers would never really threaten.
D-C scored the first 6 points of the second half to get within 37-20, but the Indians answered with a 23-4 run to put the game away.
"The thing is, we knew exactly what they were going to do," said D-C coach Sarah Miller. "I just felt like we played with fear. We talked about getting the nerves out and the fear out before we stepped on the floor. We had been in the sectional last year, and I really felt like we went out there and looked fearful. I felt like we shied away from the ball, and you can't do that against them.
"I didn't feel like we followed the game plan. We knew we had to control the tempo, we couldn't turn the ball over with their press, and that we had to limit transition buckets. And when you look at those three parts of the game plan, I can't tell you that not one thing got executed."
The Chargers turned the ball over 28 times against the Indians' press, and were hammered on the boards, 26-15. That gave D-C precious few shot opportunities, and the Chargers just couldn't convert enough to contend with Hononegah's barrage of 3-pointers.
The Indians drained 9 shots from long range, with 7 different players getting at least one.
Freshman forwards Jordan King and Kali Schmitz led Hononegah with 13 points apiece. Berkley Byron and Ellie Welsh added 10 apiece, with Byron grabbing 8 rebounds.
Senior Melissa Barker hit two 3-pointers for 6 points for D-C.