Burlington Central (4-0) will play for tourney title again
It's no secret that the success of Burlington Central's girls basketball team this season will lie in large part to the consistent scoring of sophomore Kathryn Schmidt.
But the Rockets proved in Saturday's 50-33 win over Belvidere North at the BC Thanksgiving tournament that they can win games without Schmidt carrying the load down the stretch.
Holding a tenuous 38-32 lead with just under five minutes to play, Schmidt scored on a layup to make it a 40-32 game. She didn't score again, though, as her teammates shouldered the load the rest of the way, scoring the final 10 points of BC's fourth win without a loss.
The senior-less Rockets will play McHenry, also undefeated, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday for the tournament championship. Central is going for its fifth straight tournament title.
"It's really awesome," said the 6-foot Schmidt of her teammates' performance Saturday. "We're a lot more comfortable with each other this year and a lot of girls are stepping up and playing their roles. It's nice that we have some experience now."
Central never trailed in the game, breaking out to an 8-0 lead as Schmidt and freshman guard Elana Wells scored 4 points each.
Belvidere North (2-3) got as close as 20-15 with 4:48 left in the first half before the Rockets went on a 10-0 run to end the half with a 30-15 lead. That run was fueled by a team effort as well - Schmidt didn't score any of the 10 points as Wells, sophomore Lily Moretti, sophomore Reili Gardner and sophomore Alex Lichner all contributed points.
The Rockets led 38-28 early in the fourth quarter but the Blue Thunder got to within 38-32 when junior Brianna Lake hit a 3-pointer, was fouled and made the free throw with 5:21 to play. Schmidt's basket with 4:58 left made it 40-32, then Gardner hit 4 of 4 from the free throw line, sophomore Maddie Menke scored 4 points and Lichner hit 2 free throws with 14 seconds left as BC. playing without sophomore Zoey Kohllhoff (soccer), finished the game with a 12-1 run.
"I thought we looked tired today and Zoey always gives us a lot of energy," said Rockets coach Mark Smith. "The best part of the game, I thought, was the last five minutes. Very proud of Reili Gardner today. She's so important to the team. She's all over the floor and guards the other team's best player."
Schmidt, who is drawing major interest from Ball State and UW-Milwaukee, led the Rockets, who were 14 of 44 shooting, with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Wells added 10 points, 6 assists and 2 steals and Menke scored 10 points.
"We're so much more confident than last year," Smith said. "We've got one junior (Mackenzie West, 6 points) out there and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. Belvidere North played hard and went to the boards hard but we stuck with it."