Motivated Timothy Christian rolls past Lisle
Timothy Christian showed up to Lisle on Monday afternoon frustrated and angry. That meant trouble for the Lions.
The Trojans took out their frustrations on Lisle with a 55-28 nonconference girls basketball victory. It followed a blowout loss on Saturday to Class 4A school Plainfield Central that disappointed the Trojans.
"The girls were really pumped to play, so that helped going in," Trojans coach Jill Groenewold said. "They're a close school and as you start to see the playoffs you want that advantage psychologically. ... And coming off the loss Saturday, there's a little motivation there. We didn't just lose, we got shellacked. It doesn't matter who it is, you lose, you're ready for the next game."
The Trojans also were motivated by the seeds for the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic. Lisle began with the top seed, but Timothy came from No. 7 to win the tournament.
"In the winter tournament we were ranked a little lower than we thought we should be, probably because of our record," Trojans junior Sarah Carstensen said. "And so just coming into this game, we all just really wanted to win really badly. Winning by this much just means a lot to us, and I feel like we proved ourselves in this game."
Back to playing against a team their own size, Class 2A Timothy Christian (15-5) took a 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter on a Carstensen free throw and kept up the momentum from there.
Lisle might have hoped things would turn their way in the second half, but a Madison Drye 3-pointer to start the third quarter sent the message that the Trojans would not allow a letdown.
"In the locker room we were talking about how we needed to come out stronger because sometimes the third quarter is our weakness," Carstensen said.
Hannah Schuringa led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Drye and Grace Roland scored 9 points, and Carstensen finished with 8.
Emma Rossin led Lisle (19-4) with 9 points.
"We just couldn't shoot the ball today," Lisle coach Nick Balaban said. "We need to make shots. ... When you're not making shots and then trying to get to the bucket against their size, if you make shots then that opens up things for you."