advertisement

Focused Dundee-Crown puts away Jacobs

After a brief detour into the losing column earlier this week against Hampshire the Dundee-Crown girls basketball team got right back on the winning track Saturday in the regular season finale with a 37-20 Fox Valley Conference victory over visiting Jacobs.

The Chargers (17-9, 11-5) now head into the postseason having won 5 of their last 6 games. They open regional play at South Elgin on Tuesday to face the winner of Monday's Jacobs vs. Larkin game.

"We were totally focused on moving forward from the loss against Hampshire," Dundee-Crown coach Sarah Miller said. "We are feeling good about where we are at. We are playing with a lot of confidence. We have four seniors who have all been here before. So that leadership is really going to help us."

The D-C win avenged a 1-point loss to Jacobs a month ago. The difference this time around was lockdown defense by the Chargers, who held the Golden Eagles to just 9 shots in the first half and only one field goal combined in the second and third quarters.

"Defense was our biggest emphasis this time," Miller said. "We gave up way too many easy layups the first time we played them. So, we focused on keeping them out of the lane. We did a good job moving our feet, completely rotating on screens, and filling the gaps."

Senior Madilyn Tripp played a big role on the defense with 4 blocked shots.

"Defense is something we pride ourselves in," Tripp said. "We got it done with a lot of help line defense on the weak side. It was well needed revenge after we lost to them last time. We just keep striving for great things and can't wait to start the playoffs."

Tripp also had a team-high 10 points. Alyssa Crenshaw and Payton Schmidt each added 9 points.

Crenshaw had 7 points in the first half to help give the Chargers a 15-8 halftime lead. The Chargers continued to pull away in the second half. Schmidt had 6 points in the third quarter as D-C extended its lead to 27-11.

The game rescheduled for Saturday after being canceled due the snowstorm on Friday. That caused the Golden Eagles (9-17, 6-10) to be without two of their starting guards. Jacobs shot just 7 of 28 (25 percent) from the field.

"D-C guards so well and their pressure gave us fits," Jacobs coach Joe Benoit said. "We had a hard time putting the ball in basket. I was still proud of the girls' effort. With our two guards out we were asking them to do a lot of things they don't usually do. We are looking forward to getting a fresh start on Monday and trying to make something special happen."

  Jacobs' Courtney Pahl passes to a teammate as Dundee-Crown's Madilyn Tripp blocks her path Saturday in a girls basketball game in Carpentersville. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Jacobs' Kerri Healy reaches a rebound in front of Dundee-Crown's Madilyn Tripp Saturday in a girls basketball game in Carpentersville. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.