Neuqua Valley falls to Joliet Catholic
Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams had to love the way his team played early in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats used their vaunted trapping defense to spark a 10-0 run to take a 2-point lead on Joliet Catholic on Saturday in Chicago Heights.
But the veteran coach didn't love much of what his team did for large stretches of what turned out to be a 50-43 loss to the Angels in Neuqua Valley's first of two pool-play contests on the day at the Marian Catholic Christmas Classic. The Wildcats, who dropped to 5-4 on the year before taking on Rich East in a late contest Saturday, missed 12 of 18 free throws as well as a few too many layups. In the end Joliet Catholic came away with the win.
"You can't miss free throws. You can't miss layups. You just can't do that," said Williams, whose team was playing without point guard Sofia Medina, out with an ankle sprain. "Yeah, we made a run, but we had to spend a lot of energy to get there."
Sophomore Ellie Wisner, who led the Wildcats with 12 points and 4 steals off the bench, was a bright spot for Neuqua Valley, and so was a defense that forced 13 turnovers in each half.
"I thought Ellie Wisner played a great game, but everyone else has got to come up," Williams added. "We've got to play smarter. That's just it."
In a game that featured big runs by each side, the Wildcats could have used a few more shots to fall, especially down the stretch after a steal and three-point play from Kara Vonnahme had given them a 37-35 lead with 5:05 left to play. From that point on, the Angels (5-6) outscored Neuqua Valley 15-6. Eight missed free throws in the second half proved too costly.
"It's a big deal," Williams said of the missed foul shots. "It changes momentum quickly. And we have to play smart, that's the big thing."
Wisner scored 7 points in the second quarter as the Wildcats drew even at the half 20-20. The Wildcats had an early lead of 6-3 following a steal by Kara Vonnahme set up Ashley Ishman's fastbreak bucket. The Angels then used a 10-0 run of their own to lead 13-6 after one quarter.
The back and forth contest then saw Joliet Catholic lead 33-26 after three quarters before a charge by the Wildcats put them on top early in the fourth, before yet another strong streak by the Angels.
"I thought we did pretty well but at the end we just need to pick it up and finish it out," Wisner said. "When we were making those runs we started to get more and more aggressive and everything started coming on our side. But then the other team made some plays."
Credit the Angels' Mia Bertino and Jennifer Krizka for being difference makers. Bertino connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the first half and led all scorers with 16 points, while senior post Krizka scored all of her 11 points in the second half.
Despite the setback Wisner is confident the Wildcats will continue to improve, especially once Medina rejoins the team.
"We had a lot of steals. That's a positive. We just need to work on free throws and shooting," she said. "In the future we'll have some very good weapons."
Angels coach Jim O'Brien, whose team fell to Aurora Central Catholic 56-44 in an earlier pool-play game, was happy to see his kids come away with a win against the Wildcats.
"They pressured us," he said. "We slowed the game down a little bit to our standards. We tried to get more control and reverse the basketball a little bit against their press. To get one against a very good Neuqua Valley team was huge for us."
In other pool-play action, Montini improved to 8-1 on the year with a 57-15 win over Rich East. The Broncos played ACC later on Saturday to wrap up their first day at the 10-team tourney.