Girls Basketball: Caitlin Garanet propels Bogan past Maine West

Updated: January 14, 2012 5:18PM

Bogan found itself in a tight defensive struggle with Maine West Saturday at the McDonald’s Shootout at Willowbrook.

The Bengals eked out an 18-16 halftime lead as neither team could get going offensively.

That changed in a big way in the second half, which Bogan (14-7) opened with an 18-0 run en route to a 58-32 victory, the fifth straight for the Bengals.

“We started switching defenses,” Bogan coach Gary Bell said. “[Maine West coach Derril] Kipp has been around for a long time so I had to switch it up on defense. We started with a zone trap back into a zone, which wasn’t working for us. So we went to a zone trap back into a man defense.”

That did the trick, as Maine West (7-13), which had a three-game winning streak snapped, missed its first four shots and turned the ball over four times during Bogan’s decisive run. Chelsea Stone and China Davis were the keys at both ends for the Bengals, combining for 10 points during the spurt, most of which came in transition.

“We came out aggressive in the second half, real aggressive,” Stone said. “We didn’t want to lose. We knew they couldn’t handle the pressure. They started turning the ball over and that’s how we got layups.”

That was a marked difference from the first half, when Bogan made only 7 of 27 shots and was content to play a half-court game.

“I just told the girls at halftime that we got to play with some urgency,” Bell said. “We didn’t play with any urgency [in the first half], and we turned it up.”

The turning point came early in the third quarter when Maine West’s leading scorer, 6-1 sophomore center Brittany Collins, picked up her fourth foul. Kipp protested the call and was assessed a technical foul. Stone and Davis made all four of the ensuing free throws and Brandey Tarver scored on a putback on the resulting possession to turn a four-point lead into a 10-point bulge.

Collins, who finished with five points and three rebounds, fouled out soon after and the Bengals took full advantage, pounding the ball inside to senior center Caitlin Garanet, who poured in 18 of her game-high 21 points in the second half. The 6-2 Garanet, a transfer from Morton who has committed to UIC, also pulled down 11 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive glass.

“We knew [Collins] had three or four fouls so we kept getting the ball to Caitlin,” Stone said. “She has been a very big help. We really appreciate her coming here for her senior year.”

Stone and Davis were do-everything guards for the Bengals. Both scored eight points, with Stone adding seven rebounds, five steals and three assists and Davis coming up with 10 boards and three steals. Tarver chipped in eight points, five rebounds and two assists.

Amanda Hoye had 11 points to lead Maine West, which also received four points and eight rebounds from 6-3 sophomore Julia Huinker, who replaced Collins.

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