No letdown for Maine West in rout of Lake Zurich
Maine West had a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday against Lake Zurich, a quick turnaround after scoring a big win over Deerfield Friday night.
That might have meant a letdown for some teams, but not the Warriors.
Maine West roared out of the gate against the visiting Bears, opening up a 28-point lead early in the second quarter en route to a 56-29 nonconference girls basketball victory.
"These girls love to play the game," said Warriors coach Kim de Marigny of the state's top-ranked Class 4A team, which improved to 12-0 on the year. "It doesn't matter whether it's 10 in the morning or midnight, they're ready to play."
Lake Zurich (6-5) also played Friday night, taking an emotional 51-46 win over Lake Forest.
And although Bears' 6-foot junior guard Ella Gilbertson impressed with a game-high 17 points, Lake Zurich couldn't sustain any rallies.
"They're a darn good team," said Bears coach Chris Bennett, who just joined the 200-win club in his 14th season as LZ's head coach, of Maine West. "We struggled handling their pressure, that's all there is to it.
"Angela Dugalic (Maine West's 6-foot-4 junior forward) is just a heck of a player and she's gotten even better from last year. Her game is multifaceted, and Rachel Kent (a Warriors senior) is just about the most athletic player we'll see all year."
Kent's first quarter stat line of 8 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and the Warriors' relentless full-court pressure, led the home team to a 20-4 first quarter lead.
Then Maine West senior Sarah Magnoni scored 5 quick second-quarter points to extend the lead.
"My role as part of this team is to come off the bench, give a little fire, try to add a little spark," said Magnoni. "Given that we had a late game last night, we had to come together as a team today, and come out strong. I think for any team when you get up big it can get in your head a little bit, but we work on trying to keep up the intensity, take care of business, not back down and live up to what we know we can be."
Gilbertson gave the Bears a boost when she hit a 3-pointer in the waning moments of the first half, then she opened the third quarter with a quick bucket.
"Ella's definitely been playing well recently," said Bennett.
Maine West senior Jocelyn Jacob hit two 3-pointers late in the second quarter, then another in the third, to help sustain the Warriors' advantage.
Bears freshman guard Amelia Young scored 5 points in the fourth quarter, one of her baskets a 3-pointer.
"I'm glad we were able to get some of our younger kids in the game today," said Bennett. "We've had a lot of close games recently - we haven't been able to put teams away when we should have - so it's been a struggle to get some of our kids in. It's never a good thing when you're down by 30, but nevertheless we'll take playing time when we can get it."
Kent scored 10 for Maine West, while teammate Dylan Van Fleet led the Warriors with 14 points.
"We had to just to forget about yesterday and get ready for today," said Van Fleet of the Warriors' early start Saturday. "We knew it was going to be tough competition because Lake Zurich is a really good, solid team. We had to be mentally prepared.
"Our game plan was to try to cut off their drives, stick with them because they set a lot of screens, and overall play well as a team - especially our passing, because that's one of the best things you can do as a team."