Maine West routs Wisconsin's No. 1 team
After top teams from Indiana and Wisconsin had already defeated highly-ranked Illinois teams at the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase on Saturday at Fremd High School, it was up to Maine West to give the state a little pride.
"We didn't like that for the state of Illinois (earlier losses to Beaver Dam (WI) and Homestead (IN).," said Maine West girls basketball coach Kim de Marigny. "So that served as some motivational purposes as well."
The Warriors hardly seemed to need extra incentive.
Despite taking on the No. 1-ranked Division I (biggest schools) team from Wisconsin, the Warriors (9-0) cruised to an impressive 73-36 triumph over Rufus King (Milwaukee) as a running clock (for 30-point margin) was in play for the entire fourth quarter.
West junior guard Dylan Van Fleet, named her team's MVP, scored a career-high 23 points with 6 steals, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
"It feels good," Van Fleet said. "But this was a team effort. We needed everyone to bring their best all-out defense. I felt we did that. I was able to get support from my teammates and to score that many points and help them out is amazing, especially to win by this margin."
Senior Rachel Kent added 18 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists while junior Angela Dugalic contributed 13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
"Defense was definitely the key," Dugalic said. "We tried to pressure them as much as we could because we knew they were a little smaller and we kept pressing so they couldn't see inside."
Jocelyn Jacob added 8 points for West and Lena Albo chipped in 6.
University of Miami recruit Sydnee Roby (6-foot-4 senior) led the Lady Generals with 19 points.
"They are a very good team," Dugalic added. "Especially Sydnee. She is a heck of a player."
"She (Roby) is a great inside player and we had to keep an eye on her," de Marigny said. "Angela (6-3 junior) and the entire team had to concentrate on her and we needed an entire team effort on their perimeter game We did a good job at that."
Lady Generals coach Craig Machut said his team did not do a good job taking care of the basketball.
"They are a very good team," said Machut, whose club (3-1) advanced to the Elite Eight last season. "I think we allowed them to be a very, very good team by turning the ball over too much. Their defense frazzled us and I don't think our guards came to play today.
"It was very frustrating to see the lack of effort. We just didn't take care of the basketball and they exploited us."
In the past, Rufus King has come to the showcase event in January.
"We usually are a little more ready," Machut said. "To get our girls to be cohesive at this time of the season is very difficult so we were swimming up stream to begin with.
"We have a lot of talent but with a lot of turnover and lot of new faces we were exposed at this time of the year. Although I don't like it, hopefully it can spur on some change."