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First game, first victory for West Chicago

There's a lot of basketball left for the West Chicago girls, but the Wildcats got the season off to an happily strong start Tuesday night in Aurora.

West Chicago jumped out to a 21-5 first-quarter advantage en route to a 58-30 win over Harvard on the first night of the Illinois Math and Science Academy Hoops Happenings Tournament.

First-year coach Mark Fitzgerald did not mince words in saying what he thought of the Wildcats' performance.

"If we play like that every night, we'll be competitive. I have been coaching for 30 years and this was the most enjoyable opening night I have coached," he said.

The victory equals West Chicago's win total of all of last season. Fitzgerald said this season's team is very focused on improving its lot in its basketball life.

"I'm extremely proud of them. The kids really want it. They've worked hard all summer and we have four, five players out for the team that didn't play last year," Fitzgerald said.

The first few minutes of the game were even. Then the Wildcats turned on the afterburners. Harvard coach Larin Filip called a timeout with 3:51 remaining in the opening period with West Chicago leading 14-5 with the help of four 3-point baskets from Shelbre Steward. Steward finished with five 3-pointers total and 18 points overall.

Steward was prepared to bring her 3-pointer onto the court this season.

"I did put in a lot of work," she said.

The second quarter saw the Wildcats' Shailee Patel lead the offense and be responsible for most of the Hornets' 8 turnovers during that span. She scored 13 of her game-high 21 points during the second quarter.

The Hornets (0-1) finally got back on the scoreboard with 4:39 remaining until halftime and West Chicago ahead 31-7. The Wildcats led 42-9 at halftime.

Late in the third quarter, Fitzgerald emptied his bench and his team continued to have a firm grip on the contest.

"We have to keep working as a team and giving it our all," Patel said.

The West Chicago coach said the team would enjoy this victory and then move on.

"We face a very good team (Ottawa on Thursday night back at IMSA) and they were 17-9 last year," Fitzgerald said. "We have to improve on some things. We have to improve on boxing out. We'll work on those things (Wednesday at practice)."

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