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St. Edward adjusts, rallies past Aurora Central Catholic

The St. Edward girls basketball team recharged its battery during halftime of Thursday's game against Aurora Central Catholic in Elgin.

The Green Wave trailed the Chargers 24-21 and their man-to-man defense was not stopping ACC from scoring during the first 16 minutes.

After the intermission, St. Edward switched to a trapping defense that energized the offense and resulted in a 49-37 Metro Suburban Conference win.

"We wanted to put a little bit more ball pressure on them so we came out with a half-court trap in the second half. You could tell that with each turnover, they seem to be getting a little more flustered and losing a little bit of confidence," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. "And that obviously turned around the other way and kind of feed our confidence."

St. Edward went on a 15-4 run during the third quarter to end the frame with a 36-28 advantage.

"Coach gave us a good halftime talk about how we need to square up and how we should just play our game and I think we really pulled through with that," said the Green Wave's Brooke Biggins. "Our 1-3 trap just really dominated."

The freshman led all scorers with 17 points including going 9 for 11 from the free-throw line.

"I wanted to get those, they are easy points to put on the board," Biggins said.

The Green Wave (4-8, 2-2) sank the first three baskets of the period to take their first lead since early in the first quarter, 27-24. ACC got back-to-back baskets to retake the lead 28-27. But the rest of the quarter was all St. Edward.

"They went to a 1-3-1 zone and we had some issues with that. We didn't get the ball moving like we are supposed to," ACC coach LeVada Smith said. "They had a lot deflections and steals. And once we were down we couldn't get back into it. They did an excellent job of trapping the wings and the corners and we couldn't figure it out."

The Chargers (5-7, 1-3) rallied in the fourth quarter and closed the gap to 41-35 on a Delani Kosner layup. The junior led ACC in scoring with 13 points. St. Edward responded with 12 unanswered points to extend its lead to 47-36 and seal the win.

Madeline Ellworth scored 12 points for St. Edward.

Thursday's victory marked the first time St. Edward won back-to-back games this season.

"With this group, every game is an adventure," Dawson said. "The intensity they are coming with every single game is incredible."

  Aurora Central Catholic's Maggie Dervis passes around St. Edward's Madalynn Duffy (2) and Madeline Ellsworth, right. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Aurora Central Catholic's Tressa Cwinski, left, and Vicki Sebold (1) put the defensive pressure on St. Edward's Brooke Biggins. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Hailey Niehaus, right, pulls down a rebound during Thursday's girls basketball home game against Aurora Central Catholic in Elgin Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Aurora Central Catholic's Delani Kosner, center, tries to pull in the loose ball during Thursday's game against St. Edward in Elgin. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Mia Castro, left, and Aurora Central Catholic's Kayla Padilla chase down a loose ball during the girls basketball Thursday in Elgin. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Aurora Central Catholic's Lili Velasquez takes the ball down court during Thursday's game against St. Edward in Elgin. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  Aurora Central Catholic's Delani Kosner (42) drives past St. Edward's Brooke Biggins (22) during the girls basketball game Thursday in Elgin. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Samantha Ottinger (34) heads down court during Thursday's girls basketball game against Aurora Central Catholic in Elgin. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
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