Lincoln-Way East puts away Warriors

Updated: March 23, 2011 2:06PM

No. 17 Lincoln-Way East coasted in the Class 4A Crete-Monee Regional semifinals Tuesday, defeating the host Warriors 60-29.

The Warriors had come back from a 30-14 deficit at halftime in their quarterfinal game against Joliet West on Monday, a fact that didn't escape the Griffins' attention.

"In the state tournament, no lead is safe," Lincoln-Way East coach Jim Martin said. "We have a tendency to start slow too, so that never helps."

There'd be no slow start for Lincoln-Way East Tuesday, as the Griffins opened up the game with a 16-4 run behind two three-pointers from Tess Madden and four points each from Taylor Johnson (13 points, 6 steals, 5 assists) and Caitlin McMahon (14 points, 12 rebounds). The Griffins took a 30-14 lead into halftime.

Although Lincoln-Way East forced 19 turnovers in the first half, the Griffins turned the ball over 11 times, which gave Crete-Monee (11-17) life.

"We didn't come out our best, but we picked it up in the second half," Johnson said. "We kept our composure a lot more."

There'd be no Crete-Monee comeback on this night, as Lincoln-Way East opened the second half with a 15-7 run behind six points from Julia Piech (13 points) and four points from McMahon. East eventually pushed the lead to 45-24 entering the final frame. The Warriors got no closer than 13 points of the Griffins in the second half.

"We lost our composure a little bit and came out slow," McMahon said. "We came out stronger in the second half, but now we know what we have to work on tomorrow at practice, so we don't come out slow in the championship Thursday."

Crete-Monee was led by Destiny Harris (11 points, 10 rebounds).

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