Hoffman Estates downs Wheeling for Reibel's first win

The former Prospect Knight had a special night on Thursday.

Brad Reibel won his first game as a head girls varsity basketball coach as his Hoffman Estates Hawks held off Wheeling for a 46-43 win in the second round of the Tom Kendall Pilgrim Classic at Hoffman Estates High School.

Senior Chloe Drozdz' 3-pointer gave the Wildcats (0-2) a 29-23 lead with 1:43 left in the third quarter but the Hawks (1-2, 1-1 in the tourney) came back to tie it at 30-30 going into the fourth quarter.

Hoffman senior guard Nora Thomas then scored 10 of her team-high 17 points in the final eight minutes.

Her second of three 3-pointers gave Hoffman the lead for good at 37-35 with 5:10 left.

Naomi Metellus' fourth 3-pointer got Wheeling to within 40-39 with 2:40 left.

But Thomas struck again from long range to put the Hawks in front 43-39.

Thomas' two free throws with 50.1 seconds left made it 45-41 before Ty-Ana Howard's 12-foot floater from the baseline cut the Hawks' lead to 45-43.

Ashley Oliver then hit 1 of 2 free throws with 14.1 seconds left to make it 46-43 and the Hawks' defense did not allow another shot by Wheeling.

"The biggest key was that we were working together as a team and staying in control," Thomas said. "When we had the ball, we had to keep it to ourselves and make sure the defenders did not get it. Everyone is bonding well and we're doing a lot of good things in practice which is playing off in games."

Thomas' backcourt partner Oliver, a sophomore, added 10 points while freshman Jenna Coalson, who had a big steal and layup to beak the 30-30 tie, came off the bench to chip in 7 points.

Patricia Wadas also had a big basket in the fourth quarter. Chiara Hurd and Toniyah Brown also contributed key baskets.

""We're a little young, a little inexperienced," said Reibel, who learned under the likes of John Camardella and Brad Rathe at Prospect.

"Obviously with the change in culture and change of coaches, we're still learning. But a win is a win and we got it done at the end."

"At the end, they did the little things better than us," said Wildcats coach Matt Weber. "Credit Hoffman. They did a great job getting to loose balls, getting extra possessions off offensive rebounds and limiting us to one shot on our end by doing a good job getting defensive rebounds."

Toniyah Brown did a lot of work on the boards for Hoffman.

"I thought Toniyah had a heck of game," Reibel added. "She really rebounded for us and made some of those hustle plays you need to win basketball games.

"I was really proud of her. Overall it was just a great team effort and we're still leaning to win ballgames. We're coming along. We've got some work to do against St. Charles North, Hampshire and Lake Park but this is why we're playing them. We need to be challenged."

Thomas' 17 points were her season high after 16 against Niles North and 8 against Proviso West.

"I thought Nora played great," Reibel said. "We've been talking to her the last couple of days about being assertive. We believe a lot of times she is the best player on the court so we need her to attack and be assertive. Sure enough, she did. I thought she played real well and gave us a lift."

Lifting the Wheeling offense were senior backcourt partners Drozdz (19 points, two 3-pointers) and Metullus (16).

"Chloe did a great job getting to the basket" Weber said." And I thought Naomi did a good job taking advantage of some matchups and hit some big shots. We've just got to get more people to contribute. We're still at the early stages so we're just going to keep growing."