Addison Trail pulls away from Hoffman Estates
Addison Trail's girls basketball team posted its second nonconference road win in three days on Wednesday night at Hoffman Estates.
This one wasn't nearly as suspenseful as the first.
On Monday, it was a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left that gave the Blazers a 1-point win at IC Cathold Prep.
On Wednesday, Addison Trail was in cruise control at the end, pulling away to a 52-26 triumph.
"It's really exciting for us," said Blazers senior Karime Martinez, who scored 9 points, all in the second half when the Blazers (9-11) outscored the Hawks 27-11.
"It was just moving the ball around a lot. By doing that we got a lot of open looks from different shooters and that helped us a lot."
Martinez, who plans to study nursing, helps her team in many ways.
"She does a lot of the little things," said Blazers coach Rob Schader, a former basketball and football standout at Conant (Class of 1995) who played plenty of big games at Hoffman Estates.
"Sometimes she struggles to score but she works real hard on the defensive end and rebounds for us. She is really our floor captain defensively, getting kids in the right spots at the right times."
Sophomore Ana Sturgis, who led the hosts (7-15) with 13 points, was in the right spots to start the second half.
With her team trailing 25-15, Sturgis fired home a 3-pointer and scored on a putback to make it 25-20.
"They cut it to 5 points there and then we pressured them," Schader said. "They kind of threw the ball away and we got some easy buckets. I'm proud of our effort and the way the girls played. And we got a bunch of 3-pointers."
Two of those were back-to-back from freshman Quiana Birmingham (11 points, three 3-pointers) to extend the lead to 31-20.
Birmingham also had the 3-pointer to win the game in Elmhurst on Monday.
Sophomore Mia Johnson led Addison Trail on Wednesday with 14 points, including one of its six 3-pointers while junior Demi Koulogeorgas had 10 points and two 3-pointers.
"We got No. 40 (Berry Chukwuyem), who's tough inside, in foul trouble early and No. 34 (Raven Wilson, the Hawks' top scorer) didn't play. So without those two, that helped a lot," Schader said.
Wilson, who is averaging close to 15 points, hopes to return for Friday's game against Conant.
"She has been a big part of our team the last couple of years," said Hawks coach Mike Koester. "Not having her hurt tonight but we are making sure she is healthy going forward. Hopefully she is ready for Conant. She's had a little soreness in the knee and we're being a little careful. She had a ACL a couple of years ago."
Ritika Prasad and Sturgis hit 3-pointers for Hoffman.
"We came out with couple of possessions early where we got good looks," Koester said. "Then we made a few mistakes and they went on a run and we were playing behind the rest of the way. We just didn't get it done."
Schader enjoyed his trip to Hoffman.
"Some good and some bad memories here," Schader said about his high school playing days. "It's always special to come back to a place where you played. I know this place well."