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Girls Basketball: Balanced effort carries Aurora Christian past Wheaton Academy
Updated: January 18, 2012 10:14PM
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Think again.
The Aurora Christian girls’ basketball team flipped that script Wednesday night against Wheaton Academy. After trailing by four points after the first quarter, the Eagles used quick runs to start the next three quarters to kickstart a 57-43 win.
Defense helped, and so did balanced scoring as the Eagles set a season high for points in a game in moving to 8-12 overall and 3-4 in Suburban Christian Conference play.
“We played well from the beginning until the end,” said ACHS coach Jerry Tokars. “We played a complete game and everybody stepped up.”
The Eagles dominated the middle two quarters, outscoring the Warriors 28-14 over that span. Down 14-10 to start the second quarter, ACHS opened on a 13-1 run that gave them a 23-15 lead on a layup by Alyssa Henzel with 2:34 to play. A 17-5 advantage on the scoreboard sent them into the break up 27-19.
A three-pointer by Emily Magee capped a 7-0 run to start the third quarter and gave the Eagles a 15-point lead at 34-19. After Darah Drury scored to cut the Eagles’ lead to eight (38-30) to start the fourth, ACHS threw down the dagger with a 10-3 flurry that pushed the lead as high as 16 points (48-32) after a Henzel layup with 4:40 left.
The Eagles shot 54 percent (13-for-24) in the middle two quarters, part of a 22-for-50 (44 percent) night that also saw them go 11-for-14 from the free throw line.
“I think we had better team chemistry, and we had confidence in each other, which is something we had been struggling with,” said Henzel, who had 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. “I felt like I could rely on all of my teammates out there, we graciously gave the ball to each other and trusted each other.”
Henzel was one of five Eagles that scored nine or more points. Alyssa Andersen also scored 13 points and had seven rebounds, Mackenzie Bollinger notched nine points and eight boards, while Magee and Alex Hultine also added nine apiece.
“Scoring came from everywhere, and defense came from everywhere,” Tokars said. “We got a lot of contributions and this is the time of year to start getting that.”
Drury scored a game-high 16 to lead the Warriors.
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