LF_020917

30 | February 9, 2017 | The lake forest leader sports
LakeForestLeader.com
Caxys sweep basketball season series with Giants
Todd Marver
Freelance Reporter
Lake Forest Academy
has gotten the better of
Highland Park on the basketball
court this season.
Four weeks after the
Caxy boys defeated the
Giants, the girls basketball
squads faced off on
the hardwood with similar
results. After Lake
Forest Academy defeated
Highland Park 55-37 in
the boys matchup on Jan.
7, the Caxys defeated the
Giants 43-32 in the girls
game on Feb. 4.
“We won the second and
third quarter,” Highland
Park coach Jolie Bechtel
said. “I think that especially
in the first quarter some
of our shots weren’t falling.
We missed a couple
free throws at important
times that had we made
those, it would’ve made
things a little bit different.
And then we just kind of
found ourselves battling
back a little bit. They’re
a good team too. Athletically
and fundamentally
they’re very good. So I
thought that for the most
part, our kids played really
hard and we held our own
pretty well. We just didn’t
get a break when we needed
it at certain times.”
Lake Forest Academy
broke an early 8-8 tie with
an 11-0 run to take a 19-8
lead, but Highland Park responded
with a 7-2 run to
cut its deficit to 21-15. The
Caxys countered with an
8-0 run to extend their lead
to 29-15, but Highland
Park went on a 10-0 run to
trim its deficit to 29-25.
“When they started to
make a run there in the
third, they hit a couple
threes and they started to
cut that lead,” Lake Forest
Academy coach Erica
Wood said. “We fell asleep
a little bit on defense, but
they got some good looks
and they worked real hard
to get open. Offensively
our opportunities were
limited and we were forcing
up shots in a little bit
of a rush. So we called a
timeout and settled them
down and said, ‘The team
that’s going to win this
game is the team that’s going
to battle through the
excitement with the most
composure.’”
Lake Forest Academy
outscored the Giants,
14-7 for the remainder of
the game to pick up the
11-point win. LFA sophomore
Ramatoulaye Keita
had a game-high 20 points
for the Caxys.
“I care about my team
and I want to win every
single game we play, but
only one player cannot win
the game,” Keita said. “So
I try my best to do the best
I can do.”
“Ramatoulaye is a
strong athlete,” Wood
added. “She played hard.
I wish we could’ve gotten
the ball inside to her a little
bit more. She had to force
up a lot of looks. She’s
definitely someone who
we look for offensively
and she’s got to do a lot.”
Highland Park sophomore
guard Sydney Ignoffo
led the Giants with
13 points.
“I think similar to the
past few games, she’s
played great at both ends
of the floor,” Bechtel said.
“She’s a great shooter and
we all knew she was a
great shooter, but this year
and especially in the last
seven or eight games she’s
really picked up her game
on the defensive end as
well. I think it just makes
Lake Forest Academy’s Ramatoulaye Keita takes a free throw shot during LFA’s 43-32 win over Highland Park on
Saturday, Feb. 4, in Lake Forest. Miroslaw Pomian/22nd Century Media
her a more complete player
and helps our team be
better.”
After a slow 0-5 start
to the season, the Caxys
have gone 8-5 the rest of
the way to hold an 8-10 record.
The season finale for
Lake Forest Academy is at
Fenwick on Friday in Oak
Park.
“We’re a different
team,” Wood said. “We
started in the Vernon Hills
tournament and that’s a
really tough tournament
and it had new teams this
year in it also. So it was
a rough start. Since then,
about halfway through the
season, we lost two of our
starters with knee injuries.
So we were a new team at
that point and a lot of girls
have had to step up and
contribute a lot more than
they maybe expected to.
“I’m really proud of the
way my team has been
playing and I’m really
proud of the way the players
coming off the bench
have been able to come in
Strong defense against Highland Park post players like Lily Kahn (center) helped the
Caxys come away with the victory.
and make stops defensively
and do specifically what
we ask them to do.”
Highland Park (10-14)
came into its matchup with
Lake Forest Academy on a
three-game winning streak
and victories in four of their
previous five games. The
regular-season finale for
the Giants is against Maine
West on Friday at home
and they open the Class 4A
playoffs as the No. 20 seed
against No. 13 seed Lakes
at the Warren Regional on
Feb. 13 in Gurnee.
“I think our discipline
on defense has really come
together and our energy,”
Ignoffo said. “We’re really
working well together as
a team on offense and not
just taking any shot, but
using our posts much more
and our rebounding has increased
a lot. I think we’ve
gotten better over the season
and going into the
postseason, we’re going
to play a really good team.
But I think especially this
game, we’ve learned and
we know how to play and I
think we could really compete
and go far.”