Stevenson improves to 4-0
There's no fear in the Stevenson girls basketball team this season.
The Patriots' fast start continued Tuesday night, as they rallied three times to beat Willowbrook 50-46 and move to 4-0 in Willowbrook's Thanksgiving tournament.
Stevenson (4-0) was down five points in the opening quarter and faced seven-point deficits in the second and third quarters, before taking the game over in the final eight minutes.
The Patriots will take on East Aurora in the final game of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, while Willowbrook (4-1, 3-1 tourney) will play Lockport at 6 p.m.
Freshman Simone Sawyer led Stevenson with 22 points and 5 rebounds, while Avery King nearly recorded a triple-double with 13 points, 8 blocked shots and 9 boards. Lydia Lueck hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 2:30 remaining in the fourth.
Stevenson outscored Willowbrook 23-12 in the last quarter and a half.
"It's so early and I can tell people that haven't seen us," Stevenson coach Ashley Graham said. "These kids are just relentless and fearless. They lay it all out there. They're young and not knowing any better."
King was active all night and all over the boards.
"I've never had a game with so many blocks," King said. "We didn't have a that good of a first half. The coach lit a fire on us, and it helped us for the second half of the game."
The Warriors were led by Katelyn McCann with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Stephanie Dasbach and Maureen Schmid each dropped in 10.
"We fell behind late and I didn't feel that we ran our sets when we needed to at the end of the game," Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell said. "We were just not patient enough and should have taken advantage of what we had."
Libertyville 66, Harlem 34: At Libertyville, as part of the Buffalo Grove tournament, Margaret Buchert scored 20 points, including four 3-pointers.
Lydia Crow added 10 points (two 3s) for Libertyville (2-1).
"Tonight we used our speed and quickness to dictate the tempo on both ends of the court," Wildcats coach Greg Pedersen said.
Sycamore 53, Vernon Hills 42: At Vernon Hills, the host Cougars lost their tournament finale and suffered their second loss in a row.
Kayla Caudle had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists for Vernon Hills (3-2, 3-2 tourney), while Daniella Jarrell finished with 20 points and 5 assists. Lauren Shores and Kylie Bunning had 10 and 9 points, respectively.
"We hit some shots and looked pretty good on the offensive side, but our defense let us down tonight," Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner said.