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Kaneland stymies Batavia, renames shootout to honor Colombe

Kaneland capped its fourth annual Hoops for a Cure Shootout with a 42-33 win over Batavia Saturday night on an emotional night for coach Ernie Colombe and his program.

Kaneland athletic director Peter Goff renamed the tournament to the Kristina M. Colombe Hoops for the Cure Shootout in honor of the coach's wife who passed away from cancer in June.

"It's special," Ernie Colombe said. "It's a little strange for me because when we started this I certainly wasn't expecting in year four to be changing the name to honor my wife. Peter did that and it was touching and humbling. Our family appreciates it. Hopefully we can raise some money and find a cure so people don't have to go through the struggles that so many have gone through."

Senior Jenni Weber led Kaneland in scoring with 14 points.

"This game is very important to us and we just got energy from it," Weber said. "The Colombe family is a great family and it's a huge loss to our community. Tonight was for her and I think it showed the way we played. It was really great to beat a 4A school."

Kaneland (22-4) scored the first 6 points and never trailed. Jamie Martens started the scoring, Keely Noel drove for a bucket and Abby Peeler knocked down a baseline jumper.

Batavia (15-11) shot just 27.1 percent from the field (13 for 48) and committed 19 turners.

"We preach that kind of play on defense," Colombe said. "We try to make your offense look ugly a little by effort and trusting your teammates. We've got kids at Kaneland that have bought into that."

The Bulldogs trailed 22-12 at halftime and 30-19 going to the fourth before a late rally.

Paris Chaney gave Batavia a lift off the bench with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, and she scored 4 points in a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter that brought Batavia within 30-25.

Weber drilled a 3 to push the margin back to 35-27. Erin Golden's basket and a free throw by Allison Newberry got Batavia as close as 35-30 with 2:58 left before the Knights sealed the game with 7 free throws, the last four coming from Jillian Mitchinson and Weber.

Golden led Batavia with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

"We showed some fight late in the game," Bulldogs coach Kevin Jensen said. "I thought Paris Chaney did a great job off the bench for us. She definitely showed some fight and energy. We just struggled again to capitalize when we had golden scoring opportunities."

Weber added 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocked shots while Martens totaled 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Noel scored 7 points and Peeler 6 on a night none of the Knights will soon forget.

"We persevered. It was an emotional day for our team and I'm glad they persevered," Colombe said.

"It's me, my son and daughter now. It's been a tough summer and tough fall. Forty-four, she was in great shape, she thought she had gallstones and they opened her up and found she had cancer. Stage four and she was gone in a month. It's been a blessing to have basketball as a distraction, I can tell you that."

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