Addison Trail outlasts Fenton

Brenda Berumen promised she wasn't all that tired after Thursday's girls basketball game.

"We did a lot of conditioning, so we were ready for this type of game," the Addison Trail senior said.

That helps explain why Addison Trail defeated Fenton 56-46 in a Fenton/Addison Trail Thanksgiving Tournament matchup in Bensenville. Patience and free-throw shooting also played major roles for Addison Trail (1-1) against Fenton's helter-skelter style.

"It's hard," Blazers coach Rob Schader said. "When you're playing that pace, it's hard to slow it down after you beat it, because we want to push the pace ourselves. But that's a little bit different kind of pace than we want to play. We're trying to be a little bit more organized, where this is less organized. We work on that in practice, but it's still hard to simulate that in a practice situation."

"It was way faster than we're used to. But we got accustomed to it," Berumen added.

Berumen's 3-pointer was the only field goal the Blazers converted in the first quarter, and they totaled just 4 field goals in the first half. Yet they went to halftime with a 27-24 lead.

"Luckily we hit our free throws," said Schader, whose team made 21 of 33 Thursday. "We were 6 of 14 Tuesday night. But we came back and I think we were 18 for 25 in the first half alone from the free-throw line. It kept us in the game, and we played well down the stretch."

The Blazers took a 51-41 lead with 3:20 to play on a layup by freshman Quiana Birmingham.

Berumen led all scorers with a personal-best 16 points. She also had 6 steals.

"She played great," Schader said. "She had a quiet 8 the other night, and she played her butt off tonight, I'll tell you that. She plays hard on the defensive end. They all play hard on the defensive end. But she really got after it tonight and she hit some big shots for us down the stretch tonight."

Meanwhile, Fenton coach Dave Mello loved his team's effort.

"I thought they played excellent. We're really coming along," he said. "... We're way ahead of last year."

Isa Lozada scored 13 points to lead the Bison (1-1), who made 8 of 49 3-point attempts.

"Our 3-point shooting is not going yet. We're not hitting for some reason," Mello said. "... I told them in there, we knock down 14, 15 in a game and we're going to blow somebody out."

The Bison don't get a chance to rest, traveling Friday to defending Class 2A champion Marshall.

"We're looking forward to it. It will be a great test," Mello said.