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Bartlett takes 6th at DeKalb MLK tourney

After losing a 12-point lead in the third quarter Saturday to Lincoln-Way East at DeKalb's fifth annual MLK Classic, it didn't take long for Bartlett to find itself in a similar situation.

This time it was a 9-point halftime lead Monday back at DeKalb against Grant, and again the third quarter didn't go well for the Hawks.

The Bulldogs overcame that deficit and foul trouble to take two leads in the fourth quarter, one on a 3-point basket by Ally Mahinay and the other on a 3 by Roxanne Temple.

Each time the Hawks (11-9) answered with a 3-pointer of their own, first by Teagan Noesen and then Lexie Sinclair. The shot from Sinclair put the Hawks back up 41-39, and after Grant tied the game one last time with 4 minutes remaining, Bartlett closed the game on a 14-3 run for a 55-44 victory.

"We couldn't regroup (Saturday)," Bartlett coach Brad Hunt said. "Today we regrouped which is a nice sign we were able to do that. It was nice to see us respond and it wasn't always Kayla (Hare)."

Hare did most of her work at the free-throw line. Her two free throws with 3:21 left put Bartlett ahead to stay 43-41, and she hit 6 more down the stretch.

Hare made 18 of her 20 attempts, scoring a game-high 28 points.

"My shot wasn't falling as much today so I try to get to the line more because they were calling more fouls," Hare said.

Grant (11-7) opened the game with a height advantage with 6-foot-2 Jazzlyn Linbo and 6-1 Mallory Harrity. Bartlett's tallest starter, Danielle Kleeman, stands 5-7.

Harrity scored 8 early points but picked up her third foul just before halftime, then her fourth foul with 6:57 left in the third quarter.

"That helped we got her into foul trouble," Hunt said. "We drove into her and made her foul us. That was one of the things we talked about, drive at them, don't be afraid of them.

"I was pleased with Teagan (Noesen) and Danny and how they guarded the bigs. We're so small and those girls are 6-2 and 6-1 and my 5-7 girls battled all the way to the end."

Harrity finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. She only played about three of the final 15 minutes after her fourth foul, yet the Bulldogs used their depth to rally.

"I thought we battled back and played pretty well," Grant coach Kevin Geist said. "We kind of have a next man up mentality, next play. Our effort was there. It's just putting it all together. This is a tough tournament."

The Bulldogs lost their second game Monday, 61-60 to Plainfield East, in the seventh-place game of the 16-team tournament.

Against Bartlett, Mahinay led Grant with 13 points.

"The minute we got the lead they got it right back," Geist said. "But our intensity and enthusiasm is really good. I like the way our girls hung together."

Bartlett followed the win over Grant with a 65-52 loss to Fremd (14-9) in the fifth-place game. Sinclair led Bartlett in scoring with 14 points, Kleeman and Hare had 11, and Noesen scored 10.

"We just didn't bring our defensive 'A' game against a really great team," Hunt said.

Sixth place was quite an improvement for the Hawks, who didn't win a game in this tournament last year.

"We had a chip on our shoulder from last year that we wanted to come and prove ourselves that we are better than we did last year," said Hare, who made the all-tournament team.

Burlington Central: The Rockets won the consolation championship with a 53-40 win over Belvidere North.

Burlington Central (17-3) has played the Blue Thunder at Thanksgiving, Christmas and now their MLK tournaments, winning the first and last meetings.

It wasn't easy Monday, as Belvidere North built a 20-12 lead early in the second quarter. Rocket freshman point guard Elana Wells drove for a basket to start an 8-0 run that tied the game; Kathryn Schmidt, Zoey Kollhoff and Wells hit shots in the stretch.

"We had to stick together and not get our heads down," Wells said. "We also had to step up to their competition. We had to play more aggressive."

Wells banked in a 3-point shot to close the first half, then nailed another 3 to start the second half for a 26-24 lead. Madison Diercks tied the game one last time for Belvidere before Schmidt's bucket ignited a 13-4 close to the third quarter that left the Rockets up 39-30 going to the fourth.

Maddie Menke capped the surge with a backdoor layup on a feed from Kollhoff. The Rockets also stepped up their defense, holding the Thunder to 7, 6 and 10 points in the final three quarters after allowing 17 in the first.

"The team that plays a little harder, has more energy, is usually going to come out on top," Rockets coach Mark Smith said. "I just felt the girls understood it and turned it on and the last three quarters we had more energy and played pretty good."

Kollhoff drove for a basket and Mackenzie West knocked down 2 free throws to start the fourth quarter, opening a double-digit lead.

Schmidt, who made the all-tournament team, finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Wells scored 13 points, Kollhoff had 10 points and West added 6 points and 7 rebounds.

"Zoey plays with a lot of energy, you have to love that," Smith said. "Reili (Gardner) too. It was a good win for us. We don't see that physical play in our conference and it took us awhile to adjust but we did OK."

In their first game Monday, the Rockets defeated Huntley 37-19 behind 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots by Schmidt. Wells added 8 points.

"I thought we defended well and had a lot of energy for a 10:30 game," Smith said.

Huntley (5-16) bounced back with a 37-34 win over Hinsdale Central behind 9 points from Kamsi Mwogu and 7 each from Raquel Radermacher, Mallory Moffett and Madison Wash.

Nwogu also led Huntley with 6 points against Burlington Central.

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