HP_011818

hplandmark.com sports
the highland park landmark | January 18, 2018 | 35
Girls Basketball
HP holds onto lead in close game against Spartans
David Kraus/
22nd Century Media
1st-and-3
Stars of the Week
1. Ziv Tal (Above)
Tal scored a teamhigh
24 points
in a Jan. 9 home
bout against the
Spartans. Tal and
the team held off
the Spartans for
the home win.
2. Michael Gallo.
The Giant’s hockey
player scored a hat
trick in the team’s
game against
Lake Forest Gold’s
squad. Gallo said
this is his fourth,
or fifth, hat trick of
his career.
3. Halle Abrams.
The sophomore
saw a lot of playing
time against the
Spartans in an
away game at
Glenbrook North.
She put up 16
points to help her
team secure a
win on the road
and improve their
conference record.
Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor
On two separate occasions
Highland Park had a
double-digit lead, but the
Glenbrook North came
back both times.
After Highland Park (8-
11, 3-2) went on a 10-0 run
to start the first half of the
first quarter, Glenbrook
North hunkered down and
started to chip away at the
Giants’ lead. The Spartans
held the Giants to gaining
only three points the rest
of the quarter, while they
added eight of their own.
Ultimately, the Spartans’
two pushes weren’t
enough to overcome the
Giants Jan. 9 at home as
the team fell 43-38.
“Fluegge always tells
us that games are roller
coasters,” GBN point
guard Morgan Paull (16
points) said. “She always
says that and she said that
at half time ... We wanted
to beat them, they’re a big
rival.”
The Giants led 20-15
going into the half, in the
third the visiting team
went on a 12-4 tear. Highland
Park took a full time
out with 2 minutes, 35
seconds left to play in the
quarter and held a 32-19
lead.
With only a limited
amount of time remaining,
Fluegge encouraged
her team to get aggressive
on defense.
“You’re down by a lot
Listen Up
“He does such a great job attacking. Everything
he does makes things easier for his team, which
is the sign of a great player.”
Paul Harris — Giants boys basketball coach, on Ziv Tal’s
contribution to the team
and you have to take more
risks,” Fluegge said to the
team. “I don’t think they
would have felt comfortable
taking those risks
had Sam (Stoneburner),
Faith (Kim) and Morgan
(Paull) on that help side
not played strong and gotten
tips.”
The Spartans other
challenge was the Giants’
Addie Budnik. They held
her to only scoring five
points for the entire game.
“When Fluegge said
man [coverage] I knew
that I would have to cover
Addie the whole game,”
Paull said. “She is so
good, she is amazing. I
think she’s only a sophomore,
so I think that’s
unreal for her to be that
good.”
The Spartans changed
strategy and it worked,
for a time, and forced the
Giants to change strategy
late in the fourth.
Kim (15) knocked
down the first shot of the
fourth, and it was evident
that those risks were paying
off. Paull scored the
next seven points and Kim
added another two, which
cut down the Giants lead
to only four.
“Basically we had
Sammi (Stoneburner)
face guard [Sydney Ignoffo]
all over the place,
and then we had Nicole
(Amen), our other guard,
just putting as much pressure
on [Zoe Hayman]
as possible with Morgan
(Paull) putting as much
pressure on [Addie Budnik]
as possible,” Fluegge
said about containing the
Giants’ offense during the
fourth.
Highland Park’s Ignoffo
(19) gave her team a little
more breathing room with
two more points, but GBN
wasn’t done. Kim made
one at the line and another
two from the field.
With just a minute left
HP went to man-to-man
defense to try and eliminate
an potential looks
at the basket for GBN,
Highland Park coach Jolie
Bechtel said.
“I think when (GBN)
put that pressure on a little
bit, we started to panic
a little bit,” Bechtel said.
“We threw the ball away
a couple of times and then
they started to get a little
bit nervous.”
With three sophomores
on the court, Halle
Abrams, Zoe Hayman and
Budnik, Bechtel said that
perhaps the team’s fourthquarter
problems stemmed
from never having been in
that type of game situation
before.
“I think that comes with
time,” she add.
Hayman, who contributed
a 3-point shot during
the game, has seen very
few minutes at this point
in the season, but with
Kirby Bartelstein out due
to an injured hand, she has
tune in
Boys Ice Hockey
The Giants seniors will be celebrated before the
team’s game against Libertyville.
• Highland Park hosts Libertyville, Jan. 21, 7:50 p.m.
Sophomore Halle Abrams goes for two Jan. 9 in a
conference game against Glenbrook North in Glenview.
Brittany Kapa/22nd Century Media
been thrown into a starting
role.
“It was kind of scary at
first, but I’m really happy
I finally get to get on the
court,” Hayman said. “I
think that I played well
and it’s just fun to be out
here with my teammates.”
Abrams had a good
showing, she put up 16
points which was only
Index
31 - This Week In
31 - Athlete of the Week
second to Ignoffo’s 19.
“That’s not a situation
that they’re in all that often,
so even though we did let
the lead get away a little
bit I felt a really good the
fact that we didn’t completely
(lose it) and kept
our composure enough to
get the win with that young
inexperience on the court,”
Bechtel said.
Fastbreak is compiled by Sports Editor Brittany Kapa. Send
any questions or comments to b.kapa@22ndcenturymedia.
com.