Geneva routs Downers South for 20th win

What was a luxury for Geneva girls basketball coach Sarah Meadows was a nightmare for the scorekeeper during the Vikings' matchup with Downers Grove South in Saturday's Hoops for a Cure Shootout at Kaneland High School.

Fourteen Geneva players saw action with 12 of them scoring, in the Vikings' 71-29 romp over the Mustangs. Geneva, making 5 of the first 6 baskets, put South in a hole early and the Mustangs never recovered. The Vikings led 26-7 after the first quarter and had a 42-16 advantage at halftime.

"Everybody got to play and we only had two kids not score so that's really good." Meadows said. "We always like that."

Geneva's stifling defense forced 23 turnovers including 2 on 5-second violations and one on a 10-second infraction. The Vikings held the Mustangs to single digits in all four quarters.

"We talked about that today. Coming in, we wanted to amp up the pressure on them and make them play the full length of the court," said Meadows.

The Vikings (20-4) outrebounded the Mustangs (14-11), 39 to 23.

With a week to go before the start of regionals, Meadows feels her team has hit its stride defensively.

"I feel like we are playing well right now," she said. "We are playing hard defensively and that's what we want to do."

Grace Loberg drove Geneva's offense with her game-high 17 points in three quarters of play. When the 6-foot-2 senior could not muscle the ball inside due to South's defense, she dished it back out earning herself 5 assists.

"I thought we really shared the ball well tonight," said Meadows. "They played us in that 1-2-2 zone and we found our open kids."

"We obviously know that Geneva is a very, very good team and they were lights out today, "said south coach Lyndsie Long. "Our game plan I thought was structured correctly, but we were collapsing a little bit too much and they were just kicking it out for wide open shots which killed us."

In addition to her 2 steals and 2 blocks, Loberg crashed the glass 13 times, leaving her only 38 short of 1,000 career rebounds.

With a 60-21 lead starting the fourth quarter, Meadows emptied her bench.

Freshman Lindsay Blackmore led Geneva's reserves with 10 points and 7 rebounds.

"It was a fun game," Blackmore said. "I was just looking to get to basket and get some points out, trying to score more for to get ready for the postseason."

Starter Margaret Whitley scored 9 points for the Vikings, all on 3-pointers.

Celette Drummond, also coming off the bench, scored 8 points for South.