Zion-Benton, Niles West both win

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:02PM

Samantha Rodriguez came off the bench to spark Zion-Benton to a 67-34 victory over Waukegan at the Deerfield Thanksgiving Tournament Saturday.

Rodriguez scored seven of her eight points late in the first quarter.

"I saw we were struggling a bit on offense," said Rodriguez, who is a freshman. "So when I got out there I just went hard to the basket."

Rodriguez was the catalyst as Zion-Benton's bench erupted for 17 of the Zee Bees' points as they led 25-14 at the half.

"The bench is what got us going," Zion-Benton coach Tanya Johnson said. "In the second half we played much better."

Zion-Benton (2-1) pulled away in the second half behind Juanita Robinson who had 12 points and seven rebounds, Morgan Garrett, who had 11 points and nine rebounds and Octavia Crump, who had nine points.

Waukegan (1-1), which turned the ball over 31 times, was led by Marquita Wright, who had 14 points.

Niles West 40, Grant 21: Jewell Loyd and Niles West put the clamps on Grant 40-21 Saturday at the Deerfield Thanksgiving Tournament.

Loyd scored a game-high 23 points, but it was the Niles West defense that stole the show. The Wolves (1-2) held Grant to just four first-half points, shutting out the Bulldogs for a stretch of 10:46 that lasted until the third quarter.

"We like to get after it with our diamond press and create turnovers," said Loyd, who also had 16 rebounds.

"Then we can get some easy layups. It's nice to score, but defense wins games."

"We have a great scorer in Jewell." Niles West coach Tony Konsewicz said. "But we like to hang our hat on out defense."

Dashae Shumate added eight points for Niles West while Donnie Taggart led Grant (0-3) with seven points.

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