It's not easy, but KV and?Calumet advance

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KNOX -- The opening round games of the Class 3A Knox Sectional went about as expected, with Kankakee Valley and Calumet getting wins, but neither game was easy for the winners.

Kankakee Valley beat Rensselaer 38-26, while Calumet fought off a late rally by Knox to win 54-46.

In the first game, the Kougars staked themselves to a 19-9 first half, and looked pretty comfortable going into the locker room. But with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Bombers were knocking on KV's door, having cut the lead to 32-26 with 2:35 to play.

But that was Rensselaer's last score, as the Kougars shut that door, scoring the final six points of the game.

"We were ready, and we knew what they were going to do," said Kougars coach Mike Sampson. In the first quarter, we played a good half-court defense, then dropped back into a zone and we were able to limit their shots."

In the late going, "we bogged down offensively," but junior Brandee Hudspeth was able to keep the Kougars out front.

"Hudspeth got everyone else involved, and she played good defense," Sampson said.

Rensselaer struggled from the field, scoring only seven times.

"We must have missed eight lay-ups," said Bombers coach Jeff Marlow. "The kids played their guts out, and they executed our game plan."

KV spread the scoring out. Hudspeth scored seven, as did Pamela Zuchowski, while Ashley VanKley led the team with eight.

The Bombers were paced by Allison Mattocks' eight points.

Calumet's defensive quickness bothered Knox early, with the Warriors scoring on multiple transition buckets. Calumet led the Redskins 22-8 at the first-quarter break, 33-15 at the half.

But Knox outscored the Warriors 17-13 in the third quarter, and in the fourth, the Redskins made two big runs at Calumet. The first time, with 61�2 minutes to play, they cut it to 10, then in the final two minutes, Knox got it down to nine, then eight, as Calumet finally took control for the win.

"We didn't want that to happen," said coach Dori Downing of the Knox comeback. "We had a scouting report that said just about all the Knox girls had hit 3-pointers, we knew we had to play defense at the three point line."

And it was that defense that was the difference. The Warriors' hand quickness often meant lightning-quick transition buckets. And that helped the Warriors build a good-sized double-digit lead.

"When we are doing what we are supposed to do, rotate where we want to rotate, our press often gets us a score," Downing said.

The Warriors were led by Jauneice Johnson and Tanita Bond with 17 points. Knox senior Erika Combs had 12 points.