Burlington Central, Huntley split at DeKalb

Burlington Central girls basketball coach Mark Smith realizes his team needs to step up its performance against quality competition.

The Rockets' offense sputtered in a 39-25 loss to Grant in the afternoon opener Saturday at the DeKalb MLK Classic, but they pounced on host DeKalb with a press early on to salvage a 49-30 decision in a consolation bracket evening contest.

Central (15-3) will face Huntley (4-15) in Monday's 10:30 a.m. consolation bracket semifinals.

"I really liked the energy in the second game. We played with a lot more energy," Smith said. "We're a young team and we're struggling with when to put our game face on and in practice and things like that.

"We have a nice record and we have some quality wins, but we also have some wins against weaker teams too. That's why we like to be in this tournament. Grant is 14-5 and DeKalb is a little down, but they gave us some problems too."

Sophomore Kathryn Schmidt collected a game-high 17 points for the Rockets, who led 17-6 after the first quarter and were never threatened by the Barbs. Sophomores Reili Gardner and Lily Moretti finished with 8 and 6 points respectively.

"If we come out and play like we did tonight, we'll be OK," Smith said.

After dropping the first game, Huntley also rebounded by earning a 55-47 consolation bracket decision over Johnsburg.

Leading 21-19 at halftime, the Red Raiders broke the game open by outscoring the Skyhawks 20-9 in the third quarter. Freshman Raquel Radermacher hit 11-of-13 free throw attempts in a game-high 25-point performance while freshman Kamsi Nwogu chipped in 12 points.

Grant 39, Burlington Central 25: Kathyrn Schmidt scored 11 points to lead the Rockets in their opening round loss.

Lincoln-Way East 56, Huntley 40: Kamsi Nwogu and Raquel Radermacher had 15 points each for Huntley in its opening game of the tournament.