Richcreek fills role for Wheaton Academy
Run the offense, knock down a couple of 3-pointers, block a couple of shots, grab a whole bunch of rebounds, Wheaton Academy junior Analise Richcreek found her role Wednesday night at IC Catholic Prep.
Just do something of everything.
The busy Richcreek helped the Warriors to a Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division girls basketball road victory, 40-28.
"She's just so versatile, and that's what I preach about her," said Wheaton Academy coach Erin Carwell. "She's a leader on the court. She can direct players where to go. We had our point guard (Rachael Bermudez) out today due to injury ... so I asked the girls to step in and fill that role, and that's a thing she jumped to and is a voice out there.
"She knows every position. I started her as a guard. She played forward later on. I had her down low rebounding, which I really appreciate her being that agile in every spot. I'm really proud of her."
On the perimeter Richcreek hit a two 3-pointers to finish with 6 points. In the paint she grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 2 ICCP shots. She threw in 2 steals and 3 assists for good measure.
Double-digit rebounding is not something Richcreek is known for. Not yet anyway.
"Usually it hasn't been," she said. "But tonight was good for me. I'm working toward getting a double-double, points and rebounds."
Teammate Lizzy Swoboda got that double-double for the Warriors (6-6, 3-2), dropping in 17 points to go with 10 rebounds.
"She was fantastic," Carwell said of Swoboda. "Analise was rebounding. They all looked for opportunities to score. I'm really, really proud of them."
Wheaton Academy scored the game's first 6 points, and though the Knights (3-9, 1-5) tied the game three times, they never did take the lead. A Swoboda three-point play with 1:29 to go in the third quarter gave the Warriors their first double-digit advantage, and they followed that by scoring the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to lead 38-21.
The Knights never came closer than 12 points the rest of the game.
"It's team defense," Carwell said. "We've been practicing, practicing, practicing defense, and if one person isn't playing defense, it impacts the whole team. So we spent a lot of time this week just talking about keys to our defense, how to adjust, and really implementing that today."
IC Catholic continues to struggle, having lost eight of its last nine games.
"We're just in a funk right now," Knights coach Kelsey James said. "Our rhythm's off, our timing's off. There's no flow for our team right now."
The Knights, who have been inundated with injuries, worked a couple of players back into the rotation Wednesday. They expect to get seniors Kiersten King and Claire Gibler back next month.
"And so we're kind of taking our bumps and our lumps right now to focus on what could happen," James said. "But it just is a frustrating time."
Jaida Smith led the Knights with 11 points.