NL_021518

newlenoxpatriot.com Sports
the New Lenox Patriot | February 15, 2018 | 37
Girls Basketball
West’s wins 14th straight, earns SWSC Red title
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
There was more at stake
for the Lincoln-Way West
girls basketball team than just
a victory over its crosstown
rival in the rubber match of
the season last week — an
outright SouthWest Suburban
Conference Red championship.
Taylor Gugliuzza poured
in a game-high 18 points as
the Warriors got that with a
63-39 victory over Lincoln-
Way Central on Thursday,
Feb. 8 in a SWSC Red tussle
at West.
Not only did their 14th
straight win give the Warriors
(26-3, 11-1) their first
outright SWSC Red title, the
victory also establishes a new
West school record for wins
with 26. The old mark was
25, set with a 25-2 record in
the 2014-15 season. That was
also the same season that the
Warriors won their only other
SWSC Red title, a shared one
with Lincoln-Way North.
The door opened for West
to take the conference title
outright when 2-time defending
league champion Bradley-Bourbonnais
was upset
earlier in the week, on Feb.
6, in a 54-50 loss to Thornwood
in South Holland. West
had split its games with the
Boilermakers (20-7, 10-2)
this season.
“Coach [Ryan White] told
us at practice [on Wednesday,
Feb. 7],” West freshman
guard Tara Gugliuzza said of
Bradley-Bourbonnais losing.
“So we knew [what was at
stake]. I’m really excited and
it’s really good. All the hard
work we’ve put into the season
paid off.”
Tara Gugliuzza added 14
points, and unior guard Tara
Hastings (16 points) also
made big scoring contributions
too in the record-setting
win.
“No, honestly I didn’t think
so,” Tara Gugliuzza said
when asked if she thought
she’d step into a team this
good her freshman year. “I
knew we’d be good, but not
this good.”
Either did her coach, who
has been the head coach at
West for all of the nine seasons
of its varsity existence.
“We lost three seniors from
last seasons team and two of
them [Emily Atsinger and
Courtney O’Donnell] were
4-year varsity kids,” said
White of last years group,
which finished with a record
of 24-6. “So I’m just amazed
how everyone on the team
has stepped up to fill a role.
I couldn’t be more pleased
with everything.”
Central (14-14, 7-5) saw
its four game win steak —
all of those being conference
games — snapped.
“We looked at this game
as a playoff game,” Central
coach Dave Campanile said.
“It was a great atmosphere
and I wanted us to play a
hard fought game. West won
the conference championship
and that’s good for them. But
afterward I was completely
positive. We all hit the reset
button now and are 0-0 going
into the postseason.”
Central and the Warriors
split their previous two meeting
this season. The Knights
won by a score of 63-57 on
Nov. 21 in the title game of
the Lincoln-Way Central/
West Thanksgiving Tournament
at Central. But in the
SWSC Red game on Jan.
16 at Central, the Warriors
turned the tables and emerged
with a 58-37 victory.
When the Knights won
the game back in November,
they went on an 18-0
blitz to start the scoring. Last
week,Reagan LoConte hit
back-to-back 3-pointers to
open the game for Central
and it looked like a repeat
feat of a large game-opening
run was possible. But the six
points would be all the sophomore
guard would score in
the contest.
West quickly scored six
straight to tie the game at 6-6.
A couple of baskets by junior
forward Abi Baumgartner
(13 points, 7 rebounds) put
the Knights back ahead 10-
6. West answered with seven
straight points, but Central
scored the last three points of
the quarter, including a layup
by senior forward Natalie
Spudic (6 points, 6 rebounds)
right before the buzzer to
knot the game at 13-13 after
one quarter.
“When they made those,
we knew we had to pick it
up,” Tara Gugliuzza said of
the Knights hitting the early
3-pointers. “We picked it
up, made more shots, and
worked on defense. We knew
if we hit our shots that we’d
be OK.”
Sure enough Tara Gugliuzza
scored eight points
—including hitting a pair of
3-pointers — as the Warriors
went on a 14-2 burst to open
the second quarter. Tara Gugliuzza,
who had 11 points at
halftime, capped the burst on
a 3-pointer for a 27-15 lead
with 2:39 left in the first half.
Sophomore guard Sydney
Swanberg drained 3-pointer
at the buzzer to give West a
34-20 lead at halftime. Taylor
Gugliuzza had seven points
in the first quarter and had 12
at halftime.
Baumgartner scored four
points to open the third quarter
and cut the lead to 10.
That gave the Knights a glimmer
of hope, but it was soon
closed as West connected on
five of its 10 3-pointers in the
game in the final five minutes
of the quarter. Hastings, who
had 12 second half points,
popped in a pair of treys and
had eight points in the third
quarter.
The Warriors led 51-34 after
three and if there was any
doubt at that point it was soon
gone as they embarked on a
10-0 run to open the fourth
quarter. Swanberg (6 points)
and senior guard Rachel
Chavez (5 points) each added
3-pointers in that spurt.
“As the season went on
I’ve seen us step up and hit
shots,” White said. “Plus
we’ve become more active
and are moving our feet on
defense. The crowd here [last
week against Central] was
awesome. Central did a good
job guarding us to start, but
then all of the sudden things
opened up for us.”
Junior guard Corryn Mejdrich
also added six points
for Central. The Knights
have been hampered in the
second half of the season as
senior post player Lauren
Kraft — who had 20 points
and 16 rebounds when Central
defeated the Warriors —
tore her ACL in the Medieval
Classic Christmas Tournament
and was lost for the rest
of the season.
“With West it’s pick your
poison,” Campanile said.
“Do you try to take away
their dribble penetration, or
do you help too much and
give them the open looks?
They hit 10 threes, and we
didn’t pass the ball too well
(22 turnovers).”
Campanile was hoping his
team would revert back to the
form that got it four wins in
a row – including 60-49 at
Thornwood on Feb. 1 – for
the postseason. The Knights,
who are the No. 11 seed in the
Class 4A Mother McAuley
Sectional, played No. 6 seeded
Homewood-Flossmoor
on Tuesday, Feb. 13 in the
semifinals of the Sandburg
Regional. Whoever wins
that, they will likely face No.
3 seed Mother McAuley on
Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.
in the regional title game.
The Warriors are the No. 4
seed in the Mother McAuley
Sectional. They opened the
postseason on Wednesday,
Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. against
the winner of the Oak Lawn
Community vs. T.F. North
game in the T.F. North Regional.
If they win that they
would likely face No. 5 seed
Marian Catholic on Friday,
Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in a rematch
of last season regional championship
game, which was
won 51-37 by the Spartans.
wrestling
From Page 36
things but does them really
well. He’s the hardest worker
in the room, and it shows. I
tell the guys it’s not rocket science.
If you work harder than
everybody in the room, good
things are going to happen.”
Geigner (37-17) grinded a
6-4 win over Alton’s Gus Kodros
(26-21) to start his day
but lost a decision to Minooka’s
Austin Markee (36-12).
He lost early, but Glynn’s
confidence in him didn’t waver.
Geigner strung together
three straight wins to make
it to state -- 5-2 over Nequa
Valley’s Bryce Boumans (31-
17); 6-3 over Normal West’s
Aaron Shaw (31-13); and 7-5
over Moline’s Ellex Williams
(29-17).
“If it’s close at the end
of the third, he’s going to
win,” Glynn said of Geigner.
“Those consolation matches,
all those matches are close.
I knew it was favored for
Garrett to win those close
matches.
Geigner’s twin brother,
Payton (38-14), was one
match short of joining the
team in Normal. He beat
Plainfield South’s Andrew
Cervantes (30-14) with a
9-2 decision before running
into sectional champion
Luke Odom (49-1), from Edwardsville.
A 1-0 win over
Lockport’s Jake D’angelo,
followed by pinning Providence’s
Andrew Serrano (27-
22) kept his season alive, but
he lost to Joliet West’s Eric
Davis-Smith (34-13) in the
blood round.
Seniors Jordan Telez and
Nate Dluzak finished their
high school careers with one
win each at sectionals, and
Brock Pfeifer lost both of his
matches but has two years
left to bounce back.
West’s success in Alton
softens the blow from losing
the team regional to Providence
the week before. The
hope now is that the Warriors
can keep it going and finish
the season with a bang after a
disappointing start to it.
“When you get down there,
there are guys who are supposed
to win but never win,
and guys who are supposed to
place but never place,” Glynn
said. “I don’t think we’ll be
favored in too many spots to
bring home a state medal, but
our team is really mentally
tough, and sometimes that’s
more important than physical
skills at this point. It’s a really
long, grueling season. We’ve
made it to team state the last
couple years, so our team is
built for that long haul. All
I’m expecting the guys is for
them to go out and enjoy it
because they’ve earned it and
wrestle as hard as they can.
When you do that, you’re
going to upset a couple of
people, and maybe someone
can sneak in and get a state
medal.”