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Girls Basketball: Oak Forest picks up vs Argo
Updated: December 1, 2011 9:03PM
Thursday’s South Suburban Conference girls basketball opener against visiting Argo was a fresh start, of sorts, for Oak Forest.
At least, after a 1-4 start in nonconference and tournament play, it was one way of looking at it.
“You always want to come out on top in conference,” Emily Naegele said after a 46-32 victory. “We had kind of a rough start. But now that we’re getting into our conference games, we need to pick it up from here.”
The Bengals hit Argo hard in many ways over the first few minutes, racing to a 15-0 lead and cruising from there.
Katie Swanson led the way for Oak Forest (2-4, 1-0) with 20 points. Freshman Maddie Baxa added nine points, while Naegele had 12 rebounds.
Argo (2-1, 0-1) was paced by Rana Assi, who hit five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points.
The Bengals’ early method of attack was from the perimeter. Swanson hit a pair of 3s and Baxa one to quickly make it a 9-0 proposition.
“Some games we’re on and some games we’re off,” Swanson said. “When we’re hot we want to give our shooters the ball. So that’s what we did in the first quarter.
“To make them go to a man-to-man (defense) was a huge thing. That’s what we want to do the whole season.”
When either team missed, Naegele was there to grab the ball. The 5-foot-9 forward had just four points for the night but contributed mightily with seven rebounds alone during a first quarter from which the Bengals emerged with a 15-3 advantage.
“If you can’t do it with scoring, you might as well help the team out by rebounding,” Naegele said.
Baxa, meanwhile, already is finding her varsity groove. The 5-10 forward hit a 3-pointer in the first period, two free throws in the second and was 2-of-2 shooting in the third.
“They give me a lot of confidence,” Baxa said of the five seniors on the roster. “I feel good when I’m out there and I feel like I’m starting to get more aggressive.”
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