By Randy Whalen
For the Bugle
The Joliet West girls basketball team knew that last week was important if it was going to remain in the Southwest Prairie Conference race.
In order to do that the Tigers also knew they had to win a pair of road games. That’s exactly what they did, capturing the second of the road games with a 46-40 victory over Plainfield North in a conference matchup on Friday, Jan. 6 in Plainfield.
The guard combo of freshman Jazz Evans (15 points) an junior Sara Gersch (12 points) led the way in scoring, while senior forward Raven Reed (7 points, 8 rebounds) paced the game with a 42-to-31 rebounding edge for Joliet West (11-5, 4-2).
Plainfield North (12-5, 3-2), which is also nicknamed the Tigers, was led by junior forward Kelle Knopp (14 points, 10 rebounds).
“We had a victory at Romeoville on Tuesday and we knew we knew we had to get two wins on the road,” said Joliet West coach John Placher, who’s team defeated Romeoville 49-44 on Jan. 3. “The girls did well and our bigs battled on the boards.”
Those “bigs” were Reed, along with fellow senior forwards Gloria Choate and Nicole Gal, and junior forward Alyssa Betlejeski (4 points, 6 rebounds) combined to give Joliet West 18 offensive rebounds.
“We didn’t take care of the ball that well,” said Plainfield North coach Reggie Lemon, who saw his team commit 24 turnovers. “Kelle Knopp can’t do it by herself. They had 18 offensive rebounds. You’re not going to win when you give up 18 offensive rebounds.
“But as bad as we played at times, we were still in the game. We have to take care of the ball and rebound.”
Plainfield North trailed by nine when Evans hit a 3-pointer with 3:05 to play in the third quarter to make it 30-21. Joliet West led 34-29 after three.
Senior guard Mariah Collins (6 points) scored on a nice coast-to-coast layup with 6:35 left in the game to cut the lead to 34-32. Joliet West then missed two free throws, but Plainfield North did the same with an opportunity to tie the game with 5:10 remaining.
Gersch then made a short bank shot to restore the Joliet West lead to four points. Plainfield North cut the lead down to three on a trio of occasions, the last one at 42-39 on a free throw by Knopp with 1:35 to play. But Gersch converted a pair of free throws 15 seconds later to up the lead to five and Plainfield North never got closer than four points the rest of the way. The free throws by Gersch were the only time that Joliet West hit back-to-back shots from the line in the fourth quarter as it was 5-of-12 in the period. Plainfield North wasn’t much better at 5-for-11 from the line in the quarter.
“I was a little nervous on the free throws, but I got them,” said Gersch of her pair down the stretch. “Our coach [Placher] said that we had to win on the road. We just wanted it more.”
Leading by four in the final 31 seconds, senior guard Shena Best (4 points) and Evans each split a pair of free throws to account for the final margin. Evans had 10 points in the second half.
“Sometimes it’s hard to come in as a freshman,” Evans said. “But in the end you can’t think you’re a freshman. You’re out there for a reason.”
Joliet West scored the first four points of the game. Senior guard Tierrah Farris (5 points) hit a 3-pointer three minutes into the game to get Plainfield North on the board. Plainfield North led 9-5 after the first quarter.
Plainfield North led 15-9 midway through the second quarter, but Gersch hit a 3-pointer and Evans had an old-fashioned 3-point play in an 8-0 Joliet West run. A layup by junior guard Krystina Wayne (5 points) tied the game at 17-17, but Gersch hit a long 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in the first half to put Joliet West ahead 20-17 and that was the halftime score.
Joliet West then put on the pressure to open the second half as Plainfield North committed eight third quarter turnovers. That allowed Joliet West to open the quarter with a 10-4 burst for the 30-21 advantage, which was the largest lead of the game.
“We came out in the second half and changed things up,” Placher said. “We came out with more pressure and the girls responded. We knew that Kelle Knopp was a good player and we had to stop her.”