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Conant rolls by Hoffman; Rodriguez injured in win

The energy and strong play on the defensive end by Conant senior forward Gracie Rodriguez staked the Cougars to a big early lead over Hoffman Estates Friday night.

A steal and basket by Rodriguez just 2 minutes into the second quarter gave Conant a 19-10 lead over the visiting Hawks, but the clutch play came with a high price.

After sinking the layup that put the Cougars up by 9, Rodriguez took a hard fall to the court and stayed down with an apparent knee injury.

Rodriguez was tended to for about 10 minutes before being helped off the court, and did not return to the game.

"She was in a lot of pain," said Cougars coach Todd Strauch after watching his team score a 63-29 girls basketball win on its home floor. "That's about all I know right now."

Strauch indicated that Rodriguez, a multisport athlete who is an all-area soccer player and also the place-kicker on the Conant football team, had been taken to an area hospital.

"That was really tough," said senior Emily Ytsen. "We went into the training room to see her. She was upset. She looked like she was in shock. When she went down we were all devastated.

"I just hope she's doing OK."

Hoffman Estates, behind the play of Ashley Oliver and Amaya Hendrickson, stayed close early on but Conant scored a flurry of points near the end of the first half.

In the final minute of the second quarter, Olivia Czarny of the Cougars hit a jumper, teammate Samantha Locascio had a steal and layup, and Asha Cobb sank 2 free throws to give the home team a 33-13 advantage at intermission.

Then in the second half, Conant extended the lead with the offense going through Ytsen, a 6-foot-2 forward, in the high post.

"We got tons of steals off ball screens tonight, and that opened up things for us on the offensive end," said Ytsen. "We created some gaps and got some open looks."

The Cougars extended the lead to 53-26 in the third quarter after a 3-pointer by Locascio, although Hoffman was able to close the gap somewhat due to the inspired game by Oliver.

Oliver scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the third stanza.

The benches cleared in the final period and some players took advantage of the extra minutes, especially Conant junior Lauren Manikis, who recorded 2 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds and 3 assists in the final 8 minutes.

Hendrickson, a 5-11 junior forward, played a tough game inside for the Hawks, scoring 6 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.

Ytsen finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks for Conant, while Cobb, a sophomore guard, led the Cougars in scoring with 17 points, including 3 3-pointers.

"We did a nice job on 'D'," said Strauch. "We wanted to get up and run the guard off and we did a good job with that. We got turnovers, moved the ball well and got some good open shots. I thought we were more aggressive tonight than we have been the last couple of games."

"Sam (Locascio) was extremely phenomenal tonight with on-ball defense," added Ytsen. "Now we've got to keep pushing through. We've got a great group of girls and we're looking for a conference title for sure."

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