Trinity upends Dundee-Crown
For a while it looked like the Dundee-Crown girls basketball team was locked into a defensive battle that would go right down to the finish on Tuesday night.
That was until visiting Trinity had a change of plans midway through the third quarter. The Blazers went on a 13-0 run to break open a close game and went on to deal the host Chargers a 45-30 defeat in opening round action of the 35th Annual Komaromy Charger Classic.
For two and a half quarters the Chargers (8-5) had things well in hand defensively and trailed just 18-17 early in the third quarter. Katelyn Skibinski had just hit back-to-back 3 pointers on Dundee Crown's first 2 possessions of the second half to keep the game close. It was a rare scoring highlight for the Chargers and eventually their offensive woes would catch up with them. The Chargers turned the ball over 24 times and shot just 8 of 35 (23 percent) from the field.
After Skibinski's two 3-pointers the Chargers missed their next 11 shots from the field.
"Defensively, I was really proud of the way we played for two and half quarters," D-C coach Sarah Miller said. "Our game plan was to keep them out of the lane. We were able to expose some of their weaknesses and force them to turn over the ball. But it was really our problems on offense that led to our defensive breakdowns in the second half. They are a very athletic team and we started to allow them to get out in transition and score buckets."
It might have been the Chargers' missed shots in the first half that hurt even more.
"I felt in that first half we really let a good opportunity get away," Miller said. "We were pretty much stopping them every time down the court, but we couldn't build any kind of lead. We have to find ways to score even when our outside shot isn't falling. I think our offense struggled because we didn't attack the basket enough. Then we just missed too many open shots."
Skibinski along with Gianine Boado each had 10 points to lead the Chargers in scoring. Boado also had a team-high 7 rebounds.
After the defeat the Chargers fall into the consolation bracket where they will play St. Charles North at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
"We'll reflect on this one and then move on, "Miller said. "We need to regroup and get ready to play the next one. Winning the consolation bracket now becomes our goal."