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Sycamore deals Kaneland first loss

Sycamore was well aware that Kaneland's girls basketball offense runs primarily through seniors Jamie Martens and Jenni Weber.

The Spartans made a concerted effort to contain the Knights' dynamic duo and were largely successful in holding them to just 18 combined points on 6 of 21 shooting.

Kaneland answered by shutting down senior Kate Majerus, who tallied 32 points Tuesday in Sycamore's win over Rock Falls, but sophomore Kylie Feuerbach collected a game-high 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds as the Spartans held on for a 45-42 victory in Friday night's Northern Illinois Big XII East first place showdown.

"Obviously Jenni and Jamie are both such unbelievable players that we had to limit what they were going to do," said Sycamore coach Adam Wickness, as his squad improved to 8-1 and 3-0 in conference play. "We wanted to make the rest of their team beat us."

Junior Hannah Armin stepped up with 10 points for Kaneland (6-1, 3-1) while freshman Abby Peeler (6 points) and sophomore Keely Noel (5 points) also contributed offensively.

However, it was not enough to overcome a 9-point first half where the Knights were shut out in the second quarter.

"I thought we did pretty well defensively, especially in the first half, but we were 3 of 26 shooting and that's what killed us. We're lucky we didn't get blown out," said Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe as the Knights trailed only 12-9 at the half.

"We were just running around and not running anything in the first half. It just threw us off with the excellent defense they were running," Weber added.

Both teams found their offensive rhythm in the third quarter and Kaneland took its last lead of the game at 22-21 behind a 3-pointer from Armin and a basket from Peeler.

Feuerbach, who tallied 18 second half points, connected on four straight 3-pointers in a 4-minute span to help Sycamore regain a 36-27 lead with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter.

"Kylie's a great ballplayer. We tried to take her out of the game, but she went off so I give her credit," Weber said.

Weber answered with back-to-back trifectas and Martens dropped in a pair of free throws to bring Kaneland within 36-35 with 4:17 left.

"We started finding gaps and gaining momentum in the second half and that's what turned the game around," Weber said.

The Knights missed three attempts to tie the game in the final minute and Sycamore hit 4-of-6 free throws in the last 20 seconds to seal the win.

Weber finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds for Kaneland while Martens collected 8 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Jackie Rapp and Faith Klemm tallied 11 points each for Sycamore while Majerus made 3 free throws for her only points.

"We got down by nine, but we were pretty happy with the way we fought back," Colombe said. "We want some other people stepping up and they took shoots today. We want to play certainly featuring Jamie and Jenny, but we want to make sure we're not too one dimensional."

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