Wauconda blows out Richmond-Burton

Wauconda rolled past visiting Richmond-Burton 61-25 Monday in the final game of the girls basketball Turkey Tournament in Wauconda.

The tournament lost Kaneland on its opening night as the Knights decided not to be a part of the field. That left host Wauconda (2-0) to compete against Richmond-Burton (0-2) and Belvidere (1-1).

"It's a good start and we did some good things against Belvidere (Friday) and definitely was much more of a complete game (against Richmond-Burton)," Wauconda coach Jaime Dennis said. "We do have a good core of players to build around and we have some talent with the younger players. It's just a matter to get things worked out and moving into the right direction."

The Bulldogs have a number of talented players that have played other sports. With their quickness they're hard to keep up with on the court.

"We do have a lot of multisport athletes which always helps," Dennis said. "Even our freshmen that we pulled up are multisport athlete. We do have a good core group of returners and a good talented pool around them. We're fast and we can get up and down the floor. We can press and we can run. We're just very athletic overall from top to bottom. That allows us to play a little more of a run and gun."

Mackenzie Arden led the way with a game-high 20 points. Kayla McCarthy and Jessie Pakaski each added 8 points.

"Just getting the new players into the games and getting them experience before conference play," Arden said. "We're just running our plays effectively and getting good practices."

Pakaski had a team-high 21 points against Belvidere on Friday.

"I'm usually out there to get the rebounds and the fastbreak," Pakaski said. "Just want to facilitate the offense. I think we can go far and we can do well in the (Northern Lake County Conference) because we're fast and athletic."

On Monday, the Bulldogs started out quickly with their full-court press that caused the Rockets into numerous turnovers. Wauconda jumped out to a 30-6 lead by the end of the opening quarter and led 45-9 by halftime.

Lyndsay Regnier led Richmond-Burton with a game-high 13 points.

The Rockets were without one of their key starters Madison Havlicek, who's out with an ankle injury after the volleyball season. They also were without Itziar Fernandez.

"We're new with our rotation this year," Richmond-Burton coach Stephanie Oslovich said. "We just came out slow and (Wauconda) made us pay for that since their a good team. It's something that's fixable reducing our turnovers."