Koenig, West Chicago shoot past Elgin
The charity stripe wasn't very kind to the Elgin girls basketball team Tuesday night.
West Chicago shot 26 free throws to Elgin's 9 on the way to a 53-35 victory in Upstate Eight crossover action at Elgin's Chesbrough Field House.
Sierra Koenig scored 22 points and Sofia Radice added 15 for the Wildcats (2-5).
Kamiya Harvey led Elgin (0-5) with 9 points.
Elgin did not attempt a free throw in the first half but still led 28-24 at the break. West Chicago made 7 of 15 from the line. Even when the Maroons did get to the line in the second half, they couldn't take advantage. They missed their first 7 attempts before finishing 1-for-9.
Elgin got off to a fast start, rolling to an 8-0 lead. The Maroons extended it to 18-6 on a bucket by Sabrina Chen. West Chicago used a 16-2 run to grab the lead, but Elgin finished the half on an 8-2 roll.
After intermission it was all West Chicago. The Wildcats scored the first 7 points of the second half, outscored the Maroons 15-6 in the third quarter and held the home team to 1 point - Chen's free throw - in the fourth quarter.
"They started switching screens and we got a little rattled with that, so we turned to things that didn't involve as many screens and tried to create," said West Chicago coach Dan Vashinko. "That helped us get some more open looks and get some baskets."
Not only did the Wildcats hold a big edge at the free-throw line, but the foul trouble kept the Maroons from getting any consistency on the offensive end. One Elgin starter fouled out, two others finished with 4 fouls, and two had 3 each.
"We got off to a real nice start offensively, and then defensively I think we did a real good job," said Elgin coach Dr. Nick Bumbales. "It took them a little while to adjust to what we were doing, and I think once they had that figured out they got after it a little bit. Then we got in foul trouble.
"Overall, the cohesiveness of the unit was much better. The girls were doing a good job. It's an improvement, we just need to put it together for four quarters."
Sarah Moskow added 6 points off the bench, and Dajha Cooper grabbed 8 rebounds for Elgin.
Sam Wiegele added 9 points, all in the second half, for West Chicago. Radice and Shailee Patel had 6 rebounds apiece, leading the Wildcats to a 28-24 rebounding edge.
With the Wildcats down 4 at halftime, Wiegele canned a 3-pointer to open the second half scoring, and 2 free throws by Radice put the Wildcats ahead to stay.