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Rosary starts fast, fends off Kaneland's comeback

Rosary looked at its nonconference matchup with 7-1 Kaneland Thursday night as a statement game of sorts, and the Royals let their play do the talking from the opening tip.

The Royals started the game with the first 12 points, blistered the nets while building a 14-point halftime lead, stretched the margin to 17 early in the fourth quarter, then held off a furious Kaneland comeback attempt for a 70-67 victory in Aurora.

"We really knew we needed to bring it to beat them," Rosary forward Riley McCue said. "We were trying to focus on taking good shots, not jacking up everything. And really looking for each other, passing to the open person."

McCue led Rosary (7-3) with 21 points and 11 rebounds and was joined in double figures by Zoe Ketterman with 14 points and Katherine Danos off the bench with 13 points.

In the 12-0 run to start the game, Sophia Kramer hit the first basket, McCue scored, and after Kramer's steal and missed transition layup, McCue snared the rebound and scored to make it 6-0.

Jenna Hernandez tallied the next basket while being fouled. She missed the free throw, but Sydney Drozdowski grabbed the rebound and scored for a 4-point possession. Danos capped the 12 straight points with a nifty reverse layup.

Kaneland (7-2) pulled within 18-11 after the first quarter before the Royals heated up again, this time on a trio of 3-point baskets or long jumpers from Ketterman, Danos and Ketterman again for a 28-14 lead. McCue's putback on a fourth chance, Ketterman's lay-in on a Eurostep move and McCue's drive put Rosary up 34-16 - its biggest lead of the night.

"They were on fire," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "They came out ready. It didn't matter what we were throwing at them, they were hitting everything. Kudos to them, they shot the ball real well."

Danos took a feed from Hernandez and swished a corner 3-pointer just before the third quarter buzzer to put Rosary up 47-33 going to the fourth quarter.

The Royals led 50-33 before 2 free throws from Keely Noel started Kaneland's comeback. A drive from Jamie Martens, Hannah Armin's banked in 3-pointer and Martens' steal, layup and free throw on the play quickly drew the Knights within 50-44 with 4:38 remaining.

Rosary responded with a basket from McCue and a couple breakaway layups from McCue and Ketterman to keep the Knights from getting closer. The Royals also made 11 of 16 free throws over the final three minutes, which they needed as Jenny Weber and Kelsey Modaff connected on 3s.

Weber and Martens combined for 7 points in the final 15.7 seconds, which made the final score the closest since the opening minute.

"I'm thankful the game wasn't a minute longer," Rosary coach Phil VanBogaert said. "Kaneland is a very good team."

Rosary outrebounded the Knights 41-27 which made up for 21 turnovers to the Knights' 8.

"We thought we had to get them with our bigs," VanBogaert said. "They have great guards."

Weber led all scorers with 23 points, Martens added 11 points and 6 assists, Armin finished with 10 points while Noel battled for 9 rebounds.

"We learned a lot," Colombe said. "Really happy with how they didn't quit. We've been talking how teams are gunning for us and we're a young team that doesn't know what that means. You have to show up and be ready and be prepared for teams taking their best shots. Which is a good thing, teams want to beat us, and this loss will make us better down the road."

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