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Sports

Girls Basketball: Bolingbrook Rolls to 56-25 Win Over Sandburg

Senior forward Morgan Tuck had a double-double while the defense held the Eagles to 20 percent shooting.

Despite lacking intensity, the Bolingbrook girls basketball team was able to pull away from Carl Sandburg 56-25 Tuesday night for its first home victory of the season.

The Lady Raiders (4-0, 2-0 Southwest Suburban), who are the , lead just 24-14 at the half as the Eagles (2-2, 0-1) got them out of rhythm.

committed an uncharacteristic eight first-half turnovers while missing many close lay-ups, keeping the Eagles in the game.

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“We just didn’t come out to play,” Bolingbrook said. “ was definitely on us on getting out and starting up our defense with some stops. That was something we struggled with was getting our energy and aggression up.”

During the half, Smith told the girls to not let penalties get in the way of playing their game, as players like senior guard Keiera Ray were in foul trouble.

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Sandburg did not know what hit it as Bolingbrook broke through with a stellar third quarter. The Lady Raiders went on a 19-3 run for a 43-17 as they pushed for a quick defensive tempo that resulted in easy steals and fast break points.

“We picked it up a little bit, but it wasn’t where we were supposed to be,” Tuck said. “We are going to have those up and down games, and today was a down one.”

The Eagles could not get anything going the final quarter as they were 3-of-12 from the field while forcing six turnovers.

“They are obviously one of the best teams in the nation,” said Sandburg head coach Chris Hellrung, whose team shot 7-of-35 from the field while forcing 22 turnovers. “We can’t simulate their defense in our practices. Offensively, they had us stymied the whole night. I thought our girls played really hard and fought for everything they got, but their athleticism is really good.”

Smith said his girls didn’t have the best game. Even with his eight seniors who are going to Division I schools next year, he said they are still 17-year-old girls who get bothered when they don’t play well.

“They miss, they get emotional and try to over compensate for it,” Smith said of the missed inside shots. “If we miss, we need to go onto the next one. But sometimes, they let one bad play roll into three or four and they let that happen.”

Tuck led the way with 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds. Senior forward Cabriana Capers had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots while Ray had four steals.

For the Eagles, senior forwards Jen Pache and Kristen Bailey had nine and seven points, respectively.

Bolingbrook’s next opponent will be Lockport (1-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday on the road.

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