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IC Catholic Prep spins past St. Edward

Not every shot looks pretty, but the scoreboard doesn't keep track of style points.

All that mattered was Gia Gaudio's low-spin, high-arcing 3-point attempt found the bottom of the net to give IC Catholic Prep a 20-point lead.

"I didn't think it was going to go in," said Gaudio, who tallied a game-high 21 points to go with 8 rebounds. "I was like, 'Oh no.' And then it just went in."

It was Gaudio's third 3 of the night, and it put the game out of reach for her Knights, who toppled visiting St. Edward 59-45 in a Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division matchup Tuesday night in Elmhurst.

Gaudio's big night was supported by plenty of her teammates: Claire Wagner recorded 15 points and 9 rebounds; Alia Johnson had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals; and Hannah Johnson had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

But it was another statistic that stood out to both coaches: St. Edward's 25 turnovers.

"I think we were playing fast instead of smart or with poise," Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson said. "It was obvious: We didn't execute as well as we needed to.

"Usually we like an up-tempo game, we like to push the ball up the floor, but like I said we didn't have the poise we needed to have."

Turning over the other team is nothing new this year to IC Catholic and first-year coach Todd Fisher.

In their previous game the Knights forced 36 turnovers, he said, but they only scored 40 points.

This time the aggressive defense led to efficient offense.

"We try to instill it in them every day. If we get turnovers, we have to capitalize off them," Fisher said. "Even if we attack and get a foul called on them, that's still helpful. And we told them in that third quarter to stay in attack mode."

The game swung heavily toward the host Knights in the third.

A fast-paced initial quarter resulted in a 16-16 tie, thanks to 7 points each from IC's Wagner and St. Edward's Brooke Biggins, who had a team-high 17.

In the second quarter Gaudio picked up 6 points to lead her team to a 30-23 halftime lead.

Out of the break, however, the Knights created real separation thanks to their swarming defense. Gaudio's back-to-back 3-pointers put the game away, and the Knights cinched the win in the fourth quarter.

"Some third quarters we've been coming out slow," Fisher said. "But we came out in the game really strong, really well, so we emphasized that play like the score is 0-0 and come out like it's the start of the game."

IC Catholic moved to 4-2. St. Edward fell to 1-4.

Samantha Ottinger added 8 points, 5 steals and 2 blocks for the Green Wave, while teammate Velay Garia chipped in 2 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a steal.

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