Sarah Gersch, Madi Mulder propel Joliet West girls basketball past Lockport

LOCKPORT – The plan in the second half was simple enough.

However, the drive-and-kick offense could work for the Joliet West girls only if they were hitting their shots. Junior forward Madi Mulder and sophomore guard Sarah Gersch took care of that part of the equation.

The duo combined for 37 points and 8-of-13 shooting from 3-point range Friday as the Tigers spoiled Lockport's plans for the fourth annual "Porters vs. Cancer Night" with a 53-39 SouthWest Suburban Blue victory.

Mulder finished hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and 6 of 9 shots overall in a 20-point night. Gersch went 4 of 8 from long range and scored 17. They helped decide the game that preceded the boys' matchup between Joliet Central and Lockport.

"We actually went to that in the second half, but you have to make shots, and Sarah and Madi did that," West coach John Placher said of the drive-and-kick attack.

"All our shooters shot well," Mulder said.

"We got the shots we wanted," Gresch said. "That's the whole idea. It was a three-player weave."

Indeed, Gresch, Mulder and guard senior Kierra Tyler ran the weave with positive results. Tyler scored a modest six points, but her contributions handling the ball were invaluable.

Gersch smiled when her buzzer-beater to end the third quarter, which put the Tigers (9-14, 5-7) up, 42-25, was mentioned.

"That's my first one of those," she said. "It was fun. It was a great atmosphere here tonight."

There was another huge factor at work – West's size inside. The Tigers started 5-foot-10 Nicole Gal and 5-11 Gloria Choate and brought 6-2 Brittany Adams and 5-9 Agba Adamaka off the bench for significant minutes. They combined for 18 rebounds, 10 points and a night full of altered shots.

"Brittany and Agba came in and really played well off the bench," Placher said. "The team really played well overall. It was a good win."

Lockport (9-15, 4-8), which lost to West, 52-48, earlier in the season, hit only 13 of 51 shots for 25.5 percent.

"That's been the story of our season. We have not shot well," Lockport coach Dan Kelly said. "But you have to credit them. Their size and length frustrated us. They forced us to take poor shots and that led to poor shooting."

Laurel Kucharski led Lockport with 11 points and seven rebounds. Kayla Isom scored six and Elena Woulfe, Destiny Davis and Madalyn Kennedy chipped in five each.

Davis, a sophomore whose brother, Harry, is a starting guard with the Joliet Catholic boys team, just returned after recovering from a torn ACL was playing in her second game.

"We've got two more games in the regular season, and they're winnable, and then we have the state tournament," Placher said. "This was a good win because we are getting the point where we've believing we can beat teams."

The victory came on a night that special, win or lose.

"This was a nice night for girls basketball," Placher said. "All of us know someone affected by cancer."

"Our girls did a real good job promoting this night," Kelly said. "I think they might have come out here with a little bit of nerves."