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Blackmore, Geneva, knock off York

Entering play with a combined record of 20-1, the Montini Christmas Tournament first-round matchup between Geneva and York lived up to its billing Thursday night.

Lindsay Blackmore ended up being the difference.

The senior forward poured in 29 points to go along with 9 rebounds, leading the Vikings to a 58-49 win over the Dukes in Lombard.

Geneva improved to a perfect 10-0 and will face the host Broncos in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

"This tournament is great," Blackmore said. "It's competitive every single game. Every single team here is good and you have to be ready to play. We will have to be ready to play tomorrow and every game beyond."

The Vikings took a 41-40 lead into the final quarter and slowly pulled away via the free-throw line. They made nine free throws down the stretch and finished 22 of 28 from the line. Blackmore and Kate Palmer combined to make 16 of those attempts.

Palmer finished with 15 points and 3 steals. Zosia Wrobel had 7 points and 8 rebounds.

"We were excited to play them," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. "(York coach Brandon Collings) and I talked before the game and we said it was going to be a battle. That was two good teams going at it.

"I felt like we didn't shoot great from the outside, but we kept talking about getting to the basket and we did a nice job of that. And then we did a great job from the free-throw line."

Trailing 10-2 at the outset, York (11-2) battled back to go on top 28-22 in the second quarter and later led by one at halftime. Sydney Molis then scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the third as the Dukes rebuilt the margin to four early in the period.

Megan Juneman came off the bench to add 11 points and Sara Krissinger hauled down 9 rebounds.

"I thought through three quarters, we played very well," Collings said. "Then we just couldn't knock down a shot in the fourth quarter. They did a good job defensively on us and they took us out of some things we wanted to do. But we also had some shots rim out.

"At the same time you can't go through a game where you give up 16 free throws off of offensive rebounds."

York next takes on Huntley in the consolation bracket at 1:15 p.m. Friday.

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