Hillcrest pressure leads to easy win

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:00PM

Pressure, anyone?

Hillcrest brought it early and often Monday night in an 83-46 victory over

Bloom Township in the semifinals of the Rich South Galaxy tournament.

The No. 4 Hawks' defensive havoc caused Bloom to turn the ball over on 11 of

its first 12 possessions - the same Bloom team that on Saturday upset No. 8

Lincoln-Way North.

"Our girls were ready (for Hillcrest)," Blazing Trojans coach Marc Lopez

said. "They knew what to expect. Tonight we just didn't execute. Hillcrest

is a great team and came out and played hard for 32 minutes."

Hillcrest (2-1) will be trying for its fifth consecutive Galaxy title

Wednesday (6:30 p.m.) against Bishop McNamara.

Shannise Heady (21 points, 5 assists, 4 steals), Yolanda De La Torre (17

points, 14 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists) and Samirah Ali (10 points, 7

assists) paced Hillcrest in a game that looked over before Bloom scored its

first point.

"We all had a sense of urgency to get out in front in the first quarter,"

Heady said. "That's what we determined before the game. We wanted to play

hard, but play smart also."

During the 15-0 opening salvo in which Ali scored seven points and De La

Torre six, the Hawks, despite applying pressure in the Bloom backcourt,

managed to stay whistle-free. During one stretch they had four consecutive

steals.

The Hawks looked much more cohesive than they did in a season-opening loss

to No. 3 Homewood-Flossmoor.

"We played more as a team," De La Torre said. "For me, I'm a senior now.

I've got to step up to everything, get more rebounds and do what I have to

do."

Bloom's first points came via two free throws by Taraisia Alexander with

3:56 remaining in the first period. The Blazing Trojans' turnover ratio

would improve, but they were never able to get into an offensive rhythm.

Heady, meanwhile, found shooting consistency that wasn¹t there on opening

night, when she was 1-for-19 against H-F. The 5-foot-11 guard/forward made

seven of her first 13 shots and finished 10-for-19.

"Shannise has put a tremendous amount of work into her mid-range shooting

game over the last six months," Hawks coach John Maniatis said. "It was nice

to see her work come to fruition tonight."

Bishop McNamara 57, Rich South 48: Erika Tatum (23 points) dominated as

Bishop McNamara (2-0) took control early and led 33-18 at the half. Rich

South (2-2) received 15 points from Jasmine Brown, nine from Jasmine Collins

and seven from DeAsia Garrett.

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