Tweedy, Lake Park roll past Hoffman Estates in tourney

Lake Park senior guard Kinsey Tweedy wasn't very impressed with her play Friday afternoon at Hoffman Estates' Pilgrim Classic Thanksgiving tournament.

"It was OK. I could have shot better," she said.

It might not have been her best game of the season, or the Lancers' best game, but it sure looked good on the scoreboard. The Lancers blew past the host Hawks 47-20 to go 4-0 in the tournament and the season.

Tweedy is a big reason for the Lancers' fast start.

"When Kinsey Tweedy steps up and does what she does, it just adds another wrinkle," Lancers coach Brian Rupp said. "Our offense was just nonexistent today. We did not look good."

The Lancers will meet Maine West (4-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday to decide the tournament champion. It's possible Lake Park sophomore Darrione Rogers, who is being recruited by several Division I schools, could make her season debut as she works her way back from a preseason ankle injury.

"It's good to be 4-0 without Darrione too," Rupp said. "She's getting really healthy. She should be here soon. We're definitely thrilled to be 4-0 right now, and hopefully tomorrow is a battle."

Carson Vance led the Lancers in scoring for the fourth time this season, putting in 12 points, Daina Riser scored 11, Cameron James came off the bench to add 10 and Tweedy notched 9 points.

"It's going to be fun to watch now that we have another scorer in Kinsey, who is kind of a surprise scorer," Rupp said, calling Tweedy the Lancers' toughest player. "She's probably averaging 14-15 points right now for us. ... Kinsey's going to be vital once (Rogers) gets on the floor. She's our engine on defense."

The Hawks (1-3) led 4-2 early when the Lancers took over. Lake Park scored the next 15 points before the Hawks' Kate Mongold scored on a lay-in off a Nora Thomas assist midway through the second quarter to make the score 17-6.

The Hawks had trouble with the Lancers' press throughout the game, turning the ball over 33 times.

"We went in all week talking about trying not to let them speed us up and get in our head and we let them speed us up and they got in our head," Hawks coach Mike Koester said. "We just didn't do the things we worked on all week, and that showed. We're young. We haven't been pressed that much. A lot of sophomores back there in the backcourt."

It might have been worse.

"That's the slowest we've looked all year," Rupp said. "And I'm not happy about that. I'm not sure if it's a turkey hangover or not, but we didn't shoot very well, we didn't finish in the paint and we didn't make free throws. We're happy to get the win, but it's not a standard we want to be playing at."

Lake Park led 21-6 at halftime.

"It was tough," Koester said. "I talked to them at halftime. I said we played a really bad half and it's only 14 or 15 at half, so keep plugging away and doing our stuff. We showed signs, but we never really could put it all together for more than a couple of minutes at a time."

The margin hit 20 points for the first time on a Vance 3-pointer early in the third quarter.

"We became a team again," Tweedy said of the 15-0 run. "We had a rough start, but once we get all together then we start to get back into our vibe."