Kaneland rebounds from slow start
Jenni Weber and Jamie Martens were the unquestioned ringleaders of the Kaneland turnaround from the first quarter to the halftime intermission.
In a Northern Illinois Big XII East girls basketball game Friday night in Maple Park against DeKalb, Kaneland misfired on its final 9 shots of the opening quarter in scoring a mere 5 points.
But it was an entirely different Kaneland squad in the second eight minutes of play.
Weber and Martens combined for 17 of the Knights' 21-second-quarter points, and the former had a field goal to give Kaneland a double-digit lead at the break.
The Knights registered 18 more points in the third quarter, and the Barbs never came closer in the final quarter than the final spread in a 52-36 Kaneland win.
"I think we came out very sluggishly," said Weber, who scored a game-high 15 points. "We picked up the pace. We shut down their best players. In the second quarter, great ball movement. That's how we got open shots. Jamie - with her drives - opened up a lot of things."
Martens, the Knights' senior leader from her point-guard position, personally wreaked havoc on the Barbs' offensive end with 4 steals while also scoring 13 points, grabbing 6 rebounds and handing out 5 assists.
Martens had back-to-back buckets to open the second quarter, and when Weber followed her senior classmate with identical possessions, the resulting 10-2 lead gave Kaneland (21-4, 8-3) the lead for good.
"I thought (the first) was our best defensive quarter of the year," DeKalb coach Tyler Bantz said. "Then we gave up 21 points right away. We're not a high-profile offensive team by any means."
"We started attacking," Martens said of the Knights converting 8-for-10 from the floor in the second after a 1 of 10 start in the first. "We started getting points off our steals. We were going to the basket instead of looking for outside shots."
Weber scored the first 4 points after halftime, and the Knights ended the third quarter on an 11-2 run to lead 44-24 entering the fourth.
DeKalb (7-21, 3-9) scored 8 points in each of the first three quarters on 32-percent field-goal accuracy (11-for-32).
"I just think as a team we played really good defense," Martens said.
Ten Kaneland players scored in all as junior Peyton Giffney - after sitting out the entire first half - scored 5 of her 7 points in the third quarter to finish as the Knights' third-leading scorer.
"I just came out there trying to do my best, adding additional points to my team," said Giffney.
Rocky Mills' 10 points led the way for the Barbs.