HH_012419

36 | January 24, 2019 | The Homer Horizon sports
homerhorizon.com
Girls Basketball
Strong week gets Lockport back on track
Dominant win, near
upset mark a turning
point for Porters
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
That winning feeling.
That’s what the Lockport
Township girls basketball
team had been lacking this
season.
But the Porters rediscovered
it last week. In fact,
they nearly pulled a big upset
and experienced it twice.
But first, to open the week
they halted a six-game losing
streak. That came Jan. 14 in
a 71-26 victory over Plainfield
North in a nonconference
matchup at Lockport.
Ten players scored for
Lockport in the blowout
victory and looked to have
fun doing it. A half-dozen
of those scored seven points
or more. Junior forward
Jenna Cotter (13 points, 10
rebounds, 5 blocked shots)
led the way. Senior guard
Jackie Maka (11 points,
5 rebounds), junior guard
Sawyer Hollatz (8 points),
freshman guard Elizabeth
Sochacki (8 points), sophomore
forward Elena Knebel
(7 points) and junior guard
Abby Pappagoerge (7
points) all joined in the scoring
action.
“It was fun,” Cotter said.
“We’ve been working hard
at practice, and it’s showing.
It’s our turnovers that
have hurt us this season. We
haven’t had the consistency
as a team. But we’ve gotten
a lot better and are taking
care of the ball.”
Lockport had 14 turnovers
in the game while forcing
22. The Porters forced 10 of
those turnovers in the first
quarter, which helped them
explode to a huge lead of
26-4 after the first eight minutes.
Included in that was
a 15-0 run for a 20-2 lead,
during which Maka scored
seven points.
“We’ve been working really
hard in practice to find
that chemistry,” Maka said.
“I feel that we’re getting our
grove and getting everyone
the ball.”
Plainfield North (5-18)
“It was fun. We’ve been working hard at practice,
and it’s showing. It’s our turnovers that have hurt
us this season. We haven’t had the consistency as a
team. But we’ve gotten a lot better and are taking
care of the ball.”
Jenna Cotter — Lockport junior and girls basketball forward, on her team’s
improvement following a nearly 50-point victory against Plainfield North
was led by sophomore guard
Lexie Hernandez (11 points)
and junior guard Katelyn
Sparlin (7 points). The Tigers
best player and only
senior, 5-foot-11 forward
Olivia Cantu, who is averaging
a double-double, missed
the game with a high ankle
sprain.
Ahead 29-6, Cotter scored
five straight points in an 11-0
run. The Porters led 43-11 at
halftime, and another 11-0
run in the third quarter made
it 56-13. Lockport led 60-17
after three.
“I thought the girls had
a lot of energy,” Lockport
coach Dan Kelly said.
“We’ve had some good
practices, and we needed a
win.”
Senior guard Payton
Grcevic, who had six points
in the game, echoed her
coach’s thoughts.
“Obviously, after a few
losses, it was good to get
a win,” Grcevic said. “It’s
been frustrating, but not
[against Plainfield North].
We had a lot of energy on
the court and on the bench.
We just have to keep going
and keep executing.”
Hollatz said she believed
the win would boost the
Porters the rest of the season.
“I think this will turn our
season around,” Hollatz
said. “We needed a good
win, and I think this will
change our conference play.
I feel that this will have a
domino effect with other
games.”
Hollatz might have been
on to something, because
the Porters nearly pulled
an upset two nights later.
That happened when Stagg
came to town on Jan. 16
for a SouthWest Suburban
Conference Blue Division
game. There, the Chargers,
who are battling for first
place in the conference,
barely pulled out a 59-55
victory over the Porters.
Lockport (8-17, 0-5)
trailed by 11 late in the
third quarter, but Maka (12
points) hit a 3-pointer at the
end of the period to draw
the Porters within 46-38.
They chipped away from
there and eventually tied the
game at 55-55 on a layup by
Cotter (12 points) with 20
seconds to play.
But the Chargers (17-4,
4-1), who moved into a tie
for first in the SWSC Blue
when Lincoln-Way East defeated
Bolingbrook 74-57
the next day, recaptured the
lead when freshman guard
Laila Barakat (8 points)
scored in the lane with 9.8
seconds to play. She missed
the ensuing free throw, and
Lockport had an opportunity
to tie or win but turned
the ball over with two seconds
to play, and senior
forward Sydney Downs (12
points) clinched the win
with a pair of free throws
with seven-tenths of a second
to play.
The Porters led 14-6 early
on and 16-12 after the first
quarter. Trailing 22-18,
Stagg went on an 11-0 run
before settling on a 29-24
halftime lead. Forward Nicole
Vacha (17 points) and
fellow senior Kelsey Kelley
(15 points), who plays
guard, were the leading
scorers for the Chargers.
“Our girls played hard,”
Kelly said after the Stagg
game. “Early in the season,
we would have folded, but
we can hold our heads high
that the girls gave great effort.
We’re going to keep
working.”
The schedule doesn’t get
any easier for the Porters,
as they have all SWSC
Blue games from here on
out. Included in that was a
home game against defending
conference champion
Bolingbrook on Tuesday,
Jan. 22, and a 6:30 p.m.
one on Thursday, Jan. 24,
against a talented Lincoln-
Way East team.