St. Viator rolls over Palatine
As another year of girls basketball commences let us not forget the value of the season-opening tournaments and the opportunity they present teams to get early game experience prior to starting league play.
This works especially when you suffer heavy graduation losses as both Palatine and St. Viator did last year.
The Pirates lost their top 7 from a 22-game winner that ended archrival Fremd's 8-year run atop the Mid-Suburban West as they captured their first division title in 13 years.
Viator lost its top 3 scorers from a 21-game winning Class 3A sectional finalist that returned back to Dundee-Crown's Thanksgiving Tournament after opening its previous two campaigns at Schaumburg.
"It's a change of scenery for us," Lions head coach Jason Raymond said prior to tipoff. "It has always been a great tournament here that gives you an opportunity to get games for your lower levels as well."
After a dominant season-opening performance, Raymond didn't need to do any talking.
His team did it for him.
In a 65-21 season-opening victory Wednesday night in Carpentersville, Viator used a 7 of 13 tear from beyond the arc that gave it a lead which it kept and never looked back after the first eight minutes of play.
After spotting Palatine a 4-0 lead early, Viator rolled off the first 3 triples of what became a 14-for-33 night (42 percent) from 3-point range. Starting off with a 3 from freshman Joy Bergstrom (game-high 17 points) which senior Elise Horbach followed with back-to-back 3s had the Lions up 9-4 with 3:46 left in the period.
After a Kayla Miotk (9 points) feed inside from Madisen Stark put the Pirates within 11-8 at the 2:29 mark, 4 straight treys including a pair from senior Natalie Krause along with Bergstrom's second and one by sophomore Emna Morrisey left the Lions ahead at period's end 23-8. A 14-4 start to quarter number two left them ahead 37-12 inside of 90 seconds remaining to the break.
Horbach and Krause added 14 each to the winning effort followed by Morrisey with 8.
"We shot the ball well," Raymond said. "We want to come into games defining the pace and we are blessed to have shooters who have such proficiency that they have a green light to take those shots."
For Viator, which will next face South Elgin Friday for its second tournament contest, its head coach will look to seek improvement from inside where it only went 10-for-27 (37 percent).
"We want to attack the basket more," Raymond said. "Especially if you can be as successful as we were from outside. It just creates so many opportunities for you in that regard."
Palatine will face Crystal Lake South in Friday's 5:30 p.m. opener and according to coach Mark Johnson will be looking for improvement from its opening night effort which saw the Pirates go just 7-for-33 (21 percent) as they committed 26 turnovers.
"We need to play this tough competition that this tournament provides us," Johnson said. "Playing a team as quick as St. Viator I believe helps us in the long run and that's the important thing to look forward to."