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Girls Basketball: Larkin avenges loss to crosstown rival Elgin
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: January 31, 2012 10:58PM
There were no late Elgin comebacks or Larkin tears Tuesday night.
Larkin’s girls lost a big lead late in the earlier matchup against rival Elgin, but seized a lead in the rematch and gradually expanded it for a 57-41 home victory behind 17 points by Allison Driskill.
“This was so much better,” said Driskill, who got off to a quick start with seven first-quarter points when the Royals seized an 18-10 lead, then came back with six in the fourth quarter to silence any Maroons comeback efforts.
When Bree Hamilton scored 18 fourth-quarter points to fuel the earlier Elgin comeback, Driskill said she found it so upsetting that “last time I cried myself to sleep.”
Hamilton, Elgin’s 6-foot senior center, had a late surge again, scoring 18 of her game-high 20 points in the first half. The Maroons tried coming back from a 44-26 deficit with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, but could get no closer than 12 in the fourth quarter at 51-39.
A putback and a layup from Driskill put an end to that rally and gave the Royals the win.
“We were a lot more patient,” Larkin coach Tissanie Simmons said. “We’ve been working on being patient with both our offense and defense.”
Larkin (4-19, 1-9) held Hamilton to two points in the first half in taking a 30-19 lead into the locker room.
“I think this time we just had a little more court awareness of her,” Simmons said. “We were just making sure we knew at all times where she was on the floor. We were collapsing and helping on her because she’s so much of a key player.”
The Maroons (1-22, 1-9) appeared stymied with 10 third-quarter turnovers and 16 for the second half, and in the first half, they just couldn’t get Hamilton the ball in a good location to score.
“I thought maybe our selection of going into the post first to Bree probably wasn’t the best choice,” Elgin coach Nick Bumbales said. “We probably would have been better off going to the wing and then going to Bree or then coming down the lane. That was a coaching issue. The kids did what they were told.
“They kept triple-teaming her and she still had (20) points.”
Larkin got 11 points from Jill Casebeer, while Victoria Patterson finished with 10, including six in the second quarter on three drives down the lane to the bucket.
“There’s matchup issues because they’re small, we’re big, and we have to make some compromises defensively,” Bumbales said.
Elgin had nine points from sophomore Melanie Berg, but the Maroons made just 31 percent from the floor (16-of-52).
Larkin shot 40 percent (23-of-58) and had three-pointers from Driskill, Maggie Hofmann (9 points) and Casebeer. Elgin didn’t have a trey.
The teams will meet for a third time in the first round of the regional.
“I told them ‘take this win and definitely we’ve got to be ready again soon,’” Simmons said.
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