Burlington Central starts fast, tops Hampshire
Listed at 5-foot-8, Reili Gardner gave up at least 5 inches guarding Hampshire's leading scorer Kelby Bannerman Wednesday night.
The Burlington Central senior was up to the task, holding Bannerman to 1-of-8 shooting in the first half as the Rockets built leads of 13-2 after one quarter and 27-13 at halftime on the way to a 61-47 victory.
"She's a good player and she's physical in there but I just try to help my team and give her contested shots," Gardner said.
The win keeps Burlington Central (24-4, 13-2) a game behind Dundee-Crown in the Fox Valley Conference race. The Chargers (22-6, 14-1) came from behind Wednesday to beat Crystal Lake South, 55-49.
Bannerman did come alive in the second half to finish with team-highs of 17 points and 9 rebounds as the Whips played hard to the end and cut a 25-point deficit down to the final 14.
But Rockets coach Collin Kalamatas liked the way Gardner and his team set the tone early.
"She did a great job on Kelby," Kalamatas said. "She loves those matchups. She looks forward to guarding the best player on the floor. Her physicality is second to none. She can really get under somebody's skin once in awhile."
Gardner and the six seniors in the Rockets' eight-player rotation are trying to make their final season together a memorable one. A softball recruit to Illinois State, Gardner didn't think twice about continuing to play basketball.
"My mom played basketball in college so she's someone who has pushed me to keep playing basketball, and my softball coach at Illinois State loves two-sport athletes. Just staying active and work those different muscles," Gardner said.
"It's fun especially for us seniors. We've been playing together since fifth, sixth grade. We are all just giving it all we've got because a lot of us aren't going on to play. This is a really goofy group so when we just come out and play our game that just helps us get going right off the bat."
Hampshire (14-13, 8-6) played the Rockets to a 51-49 game in the first meeting but got off to a frigid start Wednesday, missing their first 13 shots and finishing 3 for 24 in the first half before heating up in the second.
Whips coach Eric Samuelson said the difference in the second meeting was the play of Central's role players like Rylie DuVal (9 points) and Lily Moretti who combined for five 3-pointers.
"When we played them last time their two best players had 40-something of their points," Samuelson said. "Tonight in that first half they had role players making shots. Their role players did a really good job."
DuVal's first 3 banked in to end the first quarter, her second hit high off the rim and dropped softly in, and her third came while being fouled for the Rockets' biggest lead of the game, 52-27 early in the fourth quarter.
As usual, Kat Schmidt and Elana Wells led the way. Schmidt scored 19 points with 7 rebounds, and Wells shook off a slow start to score 13 of her 15 points in the second half while adding 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
One of Schmidt's three 3s came on an assist from Wells after Maddy Menke hustled for an offensive rebound late in the first half. Wells followed with a long pass ahead to Zoey Kollhoff for a layup and 14-point halftime lead - and the Whips never got closer in the second half.
"We fed off an early bucket or two," Kalamatas said. "Once we see that ball drop once or twice the girls get a lot of confidence. We got a couple transition runouts and pushed and scored early in the offense which is what we like to do."
Jessica Dumoulin scored all 13 of her points in the second half and Katelyn Del Re added 8 points for the Whips.
"I told Collin after the game it should have been their senior night," Samuelson said. "They are a good basketball team, but I don't think we're that bad."