Kincaide sets tone in Naperville Central win over WW South
Her numbers in the scorebook may not have been tremendous, but Abigail Kincaide's results and those of her team on Saturday were indeed mighty impressive.
On a team that features Mia Lakstigala and Lucy Schmid, it's easy to overlook the 5-foot-9 senior forward in most games. In Saturday's key DuPage Valley Conference battle between Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South, Kincaide came up big time and time again as the host Redhawks had a surprisingly easy time with the Tigers in a 48-28 win.
Nine points and 7 rebounds are OK numbers, but couple that with the job she did defensively on Tigers post player Jayla Johnson, and Kincaide's all-around effort really was special.
"I thought Abby Kincaide might have had the best game of her career," Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. "She played great defensively, she got some big offensive rebounds, and she made her free throws. I kinda told them I feel like we just had an all-around team win that was really good."
Johnson scored the first basket of the game to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead, but the Redhawks (8-1, 4-0) scored the next 12 points on the way to a 17-8 lead after one quarter and a commanding 32-14 lead at the half.
Johnson, meanwhile, was held without a field goal the rest of the first half and was limited to 8 points in the game by a stifling defense.
"Personally, I feel like I did a lot better than I usually do," Kincaide said. "Usually I don't put up a lot of points. I'll score, like, one or two baskets a game. I definitely had a better mentality this game. I knew I had to push myself with guarding Johnson, and I think that was healthy."
Lakstigala finished with a game-high 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds, and Schmid had 12 points and 2 blocked shots, but it was the defense that overwhelmed Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We were working together really well as a team," Lakstigala said. "We really honed in on their players and when we played together on defense that also translated to our offense. We really tried to focus on their personnel, to not let Johnson get the ball down low and not letting Mira (Emma) shoot 3s on the outside and I think we did a really good job on that tonight."
While Kincaide is credited with containing Johnson, it was freshman Gabi Melby who deserves most of the credit for blanking Emma aside from a pair of fourth-quarter 3s.
"I was real pleased with how we played defensively," Nussbaum said. "I'm really pleased. I don't know how I can say anymore or any less than that."
Wheaton Warrenville South coach Rob Kroehnke was caught off guard by the one-sided loss by his team, which had brought an 8-1 record onto the court, including a 3-1 start in the DVC.
"It really was disappointing. The way we've been playing lately, it was disappointing to come out and play the way we did tonight," he said. "Credit Naperville Central. They had a lot to do with it, but we're capable of playing much better. Hopefully, we learn from it.
"There wasn't one aspect of the game that I thought we did well in. I mean not one. They took it right to us. Credit to them, they are a really good team. Right now, they're doing the fundamentals a lot better than us."