Lake Forest rallies for win over Warren
When a game is tied 14-14 at half, it's clear it will be a
defensive struggle.
It kind of made sense for the Warren-Lake Forest game to
be knotted up on Friday night because this was the fourth time the two girls basketball teams met this year.
Finally, the home-standing Blue Devils (25-5) went on a 9-0 run to open the third quarter.
The Warren lead was nine on a drive from Kaylen Dickson
(12 points).
And that was Warren's last basket of the season.
Fifth-seeded Lake Forest (23-9) will represent the Warren Regional at the Libertyville Sectional with a 31-28 win on the Blue Devils home floor.
And maybe it was the home away from home for the Scouts. It was the eighth time Lake Forest played on Warren's court this season.
"I'm at a loss for words,'' said Lake Forest coach, Kyle Wilhelm. "Our defense was incredible. We know we had to make some adjustments down by nine."
Warren missed its last 13 shots of the game and only scored three points in the final quarter.
"We had that 9-point lead,'' Dickson said. "And maybe we took it for granted. We were too comfortable."
Lake Forest's inside threat, Halle Douglass, (14 points) had a personal 7-point run that extended into the fourth quarter. Her free throw helped to erase the big Warren lead and the Scouts were up by a single point, 28-27, at the one-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
"Give credit to Lake Forest,'' said Warren coach, John Stanczykiewicz. "This is a tough loss. We needed to generate points in the fourth quarter. But I'm proud of this team. They competed all year. This is the best team we've had here since Sarah Boothe was here."
Dickson had a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter. And the scoring looked normal as Warren held a slim 9-8 lead.
Jordyn Hughes drilled a shot to open the second quarter. It was Warren's lone field goal of the quarter. Lake Forest managed three field goals and that 14-14 halftime lead was forged.
"Lake Forest put a body on Hughes,'' Stanczykiewicz noted. "We couldn't move the ball."
The third quarter belonged to the Blue Devils. It was Lake Forest's turn to be shut out in the field goal department. Douglass' run started with free throws.
"Halle had a nice spurt there,'' Wilhelm said. "She created some
opportunities for us."
Before Dickson fouled out, she nailed two free throws that knotted this game up at 27-27.
"Next year, we will come back stronger and be on top,'' she said.
Warren will have some goodbyes to make.
Most notably is the long-time Blue Devil, Rebekah Foley.
Other seniors are Nefeli Papadakis, Asha Lake, and
Olivia Johnston.