Maine West tops Evanston to win Schaumburg tourney

Evanston coach Brittany Johnson remembers when she first saw Maine West had joined the Schaumburg Thanksgiving girls basketball tournament.

"I was really excited because I knew it would be a great easy-season test," she said.

After being tested for the first 19 minutes, Maine West put Evanston to the test for the next 12 minutes.

Following Delaney Brook's 3-pointer that got the Wildkits to within 31-26, the Warriors went on a 25-3 run that put away a 58-34 triumph and gave Maine West the title with a 5-0 record over 4-1 Evanston.

"I really liked this tourney," said the game's high scorer and all-tourney Rachel Kent (21 points), who helped West win the Hoffman Estates tourney the last two years. "The competition was good. All the teams came out strong and we just had to match them."

Evanston matched the Warriors early, gaining a 6-0 lead after four minutes and holding West without a basket for the first 5:50.

"Too much turkey, too early in the morning - that's what we'll say," said a joking Maine West coach Kim de Marigny.

"We started off a little slow," added a smiling Kent (5 rebounds, 1 assists). "It's the day after Thanksgiving. We all probably ate a lot.

"But we knew we had to come out with more energy and we did. Once we got our first basket, we got on a roll."

Junior Ambrea Gentle, who scored 10 points in the game's first nine minutes, scored on a fastbreak layup to give Evanston an 8-2 lead.

That's when West followed with its first basket, a 17-footer by Kent with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

Junior all-tourney selection Joceleyn Jacob (12 points), quickly asserting herself as a superb reserve, came off the bench and scored 10 of West's next 12 points. She had two 3-pointers, the second one giving West its first lead at 12-10 just before the first-quarter buzzer.

The game was tied at 14-14 when Jacob gave the Warriors the lead for good with a 17-footer.

"Jocelyn gave us the spark we needed when we were stalling offensively," de Marigny said. "It's a whole team effort from the people sitting on the bench to those on the floor."

Brooks' first of two-3-pointers got Evanston to within 26-23 early in the second half.

Lena Albo (5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) answered with a 3-pointer to make it 29-23 before Dillon VanFleet (9 points, 3 assists) made a beautiful pass to Kent for backdoor layup.

Moments later, Brooks hit her second 3-pointer and then the Warriors went on their 25-3 run.

The winning surge included 9 points from Kent, and a nifty steal and layup by all-tourney selection Angela Dugalic (6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist 1 blocked shot) along with a 17-footer from the 6-foot-3 junior.

"We made some nice adjustments," de Marigny said about the Warriors' slow start. "The girls played well defensively as a team. So I was very pleased with our adjustments and defense."

Senior Vanessa Reyes added 4 rebounds for the Warriors, who have now won 48 of their last 51 games dating back to a loss to Rolling Meadows in the 2016-17 season.

"It's a great bunch of girls" said de Marigny, who owns a 65-6 record in her three seasons. "They're unselfish and they really try and execute the things we ask of them. We'll just keep playing and hopefully do our best. Every game is different."

Johnson hopes the Wildkits' game continues to progress and get better.

"This was definitely a tough game for us," said the former Fenwick star. "We just didn't play well except for the first few minutes. We're still a team in flux because of some injuries. My hope is that we won't be this team most of the season.

"But Maine West is a good team. They had a great plan. They followed it and we didn't do anything that well in the game except for the first few minutes."