Triumph at Lisle snaps Timothy Christian's five-game skid
Watch a coach draw up a play during a timeout and it looks like basketball can be a complicated game. And yet, it can be a simple one.
Timothy Christian came to Lisle on Saturday night with a five-game losing streak. That streak ended with a 48-45 nonconference victory over the Lions. Why did it end? Simple. The Trojans made their shots.
"We were making our inside shots," said Timothy Christian coach Michele Strube. "We'd been missing a lot of those. I think our shooting percentage was double than it's usually been."
The Trojans (9-10) came out with hot shooting hands, jumping out to a 20-3 lead after the first eight minutes on 8-of-17 shooting from the field. And that quarter was crucial to Timothy Christian as Lisle (14-8) fought back the rest of the way.
The Lions were held without a basket in the opening quarter. After TyAnn LeGrand-Melton sank two free throws for Lisle, teammate Nicole Cyranoski, who scored a game-high 20 points, made the first of three 3-point baskets during a span of three minutes.
Add free throws from Natalie Takahashi and the Lions were within 6 points of the Trojans and Strube called a timeout with 3:55 remaining until halftime. Takahashi was the other Lisle player scoring in double digits with 11.
Timothy Christian led at halftime 29-21.
"In the first quarter we weren't aggressive and let them dictate the tempo," said Lions coach Nick Balaban. "Once we got aggressive, the points started coming.
"We cut the lead because we got our pressure going, we were creating turnovers and getting some points."
But Balaban said his team couldn't stop what would put the Trojans over the top - their shooting.
"All night long we didn't have an answer to them inside," he said.
Timothy Christian led in rebounding 20-8 at halftime and 37-22 for the game. Ava Venema had 9 rebounds and Olivia Schuringa, who led her team with 11 points, had 8.
Neither team set the world on fire offensively in the third quarter with the Trojans outscoring the Lions 7-4 and leading 36-25 at the end of 24 minutes.
The Trojans' Venema hit net on a putback to put her team up 42-27 with just over five minutes left in the game. Afterward Lisle proceeded to go on a 15-1 run that culminated with Cyranoski's three-point play that brought her team to within 1 point. With 1:23 remaining Allison Zeilstra hit two free throws and did the same thing about 30 seconds later to put Timothy Christian up 47-42. Cyranoski, who finished with five 3-pointers, made her final one of the night to pull Lisle to within two, but the Trojans held on.
"What we're most excited about is that we played as a team. Everyone contributed," Schuringa said.