Burlington Central claims title at Boylan

ROCKFORD - Burlington Central can now add a holiday tournament championship to its season resume.

The Rockets overcame an early deficit to down McHenry, 61-49, Monday in the Reindeer Games at Boylan High School.

Kat Schmidt scored 16 points, Elana Wells scored all 14 of her points in the second half, and Lily Moretti added 14 points for Central (12-2) in Rockford.

"Not winning our Thanksgiving Tournament really was a bummer, so I think really that coming to our Christmas tournament, we knew we were the better team so we just wanted to come out on top," said Wells, who was named the tournament MVP. "And we did what we needed to do to come out on top."

The win capped a big week for Wells, who scored her 1,000th career point on Saturday in a win against highly regarded Lanark Eastland. But taking down the top-ranked Class 1A team was a bigger deal for her.

"It's a great accomplishment," she said Monday. "I got my 1,000th point and at that time I just wanted to win. We were playing the No. 1 team in Class 1A. Scoring my 1,000th point wasn't as important to me as beating the No. 1 team in Class 1A."

On Monday, the Warriors gave the Rockets fits early on with their 1-2-2 zone defense, taking an early 12-5 lead. But once the Rockets figured out how to attack it, they were able to cruise.

BC outscored the Warriors 21-9 to end the first half with a 26-21 lead.

But the Warriors refused to go away. They scored the first 5 points after the break to knot it up. Then the Rockets took over with a 15-4 run that included 3-pointers by Wells, Zoey Kollhoff and Rylie DuVal on consecutive possessions.

"Eventually we found ways to create some more driving lanes for Elana to get going and drive and kick," said Central coach Collin Kalamatas. "She didn't score in the first half, but she facilitated really well. We got some shots knocked down and got contributions from a lot of different girls."

Kollhoff finished with 6 points for Central as 7 different players scored.

Ashley Wachter led all scorers for McHenry with 18 points, all on 3-pointers. Ava Interrante added 15 points and Katie Beyer 14 for the Warriors.

Earlier in the day, the Rockets beat the host Titans behind 24 points apiece from Schmidt and Wells.