Girls Basketball: Plano rides fast start past Somonauk

SOMONAUK — There are a few things a team can do when its initial shots aren't falling — hit the offensive boards hard and play solid defense on the other end.

The Plano Lady Reapers, despite shooting just 25% from the floor during the second night of the Tim Humes Breakout Tournament against host Somonauk here Tuesday night, recorded 27 offensive rebounds, forced 27 Lady Bobcats turnovers and made a 10-point first-quarter lead hold up in a 34-25 victory to even their record at 1-1.

Somonauk, which trailed 20-8 at halftime and 27-15 after three quarters, was able to slice the disadvantage down to seven late in the game, but was just unable to ultimately overcome a slow start at both ends of the floor in falling to 0-2.

The Lady Reapers were paced by 10 points each by Maddie Jude and Kyla Waller, while Alina Martinez grabbed a game-best eight rebounds, Kayah Miles swiped five steals, and Lily Fernandez handed out a pair of assists in a game that half of their field goals came via putbacks.

Somonauk was led by a game-high 14 points by Maggie Roberts, four steals by Ashley Eaton and six steals by Abby Neidigh.

"In my three years here, this is the closest game we've had against Plano, and I thought we played them tough. We tried a few defensive schemes that were working against them, and we tried to slow them down and make them adjust to us," said Somonauk coach Garland King.

"Lily Fernandez can really fill it up from the outside, and I felt we kept her in check, but offensive rebounds really hurt us tonight, especially in the opening quarter. We need to do a better job of boxing out and a better job of getting to those 50/50 balls, as well as taking care of the basketball.

"We need to get on the floor, be a little hungrier than our opponent. We'll get there, the girls just need to get hungry and get after it."

Plano trailed 4-2 early before a triple by Jude, three-point play by Fernandez and a pair of hoops from Waller helped pushed the lead out to 18-8 after the opening eight minutes.

The second quarter was a defensive struggle, as the Lady Reapers received just two offensive rebound baskets from Waller. Somonauk's only points of the stanza came on a putback by Eaton in the final seconds.

"I felt we completely outworked them in the first quarter, which was good to see because (Monday) against Newark I felt we got outworked," said Plano coach David Lay. "Our first game was an opposite of today, along with the result. I feel tonight we were the team getting to every loose ball and getting offensive rebounds. Those areas were two we stressed to the girls has to be solid every game we play, and the girls responded.

"Our hustle hasn't been the problem in these first couple games, but our execution has been a little bit of a problem. We had a pretty good first quarter offensively, but after that we struggled. We'll get better with that as the year goes on."

Neidigh began the second half converting her own miss, and Roberts followed with a layup to make it 20-12. A lay-in from Alina Martinez and rebound hoop from Waller preceded Somonauk's Lexi Bell and Fernandez trading 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds.

In the fourth, the teams traded scores until back-to-back, low-post baskets by Roberts made it 32-25 Plano, but the last of those two came with under two minutes to play and was the final Lady Bobcats' points of the contest.

Somonauk now takes on Seneca at 8 p.m. tonight, each club looking for its first win of the year, while Plano battles Aurora Central at 5 p.m.

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At Somonauk

Plano 34, Somonauk 25

(Key: FG-FGA FT-FTA TP)

PLANO (34) — A. Martinez 2-9 0-4 4, Jude 2-7 5-8 10, Fernandez 3-14 1-1 8, Waller 5-8 0-0 10, Chavez 0-4 0-0 0, Miles 1-5 0-1 2, R. Martinez 0-2 0-0 0, DeBolt 0-1 0-0 0, Woodhouse 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 13-53 6-14 34.

SOMONAUK (25) — Roberts 6-14 2-6 14, Eaton 1-3 3-4 5, Seville 0-2 0-0 0, Neidigh 1-5 0-0 2, Bell 1-4 1-2 4, Lamb 0-3 0-0 0, Dayhuff 0-1 0-2 0, Westbrook 0-0 0-0 0, Krider 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-32 6-14 25.

Plano (1-1) 16 4 7 7 — 34

Somonauk (0-2) 6 2 7 10 — 25

3-point goals — Plano 2-16 (A. Martinez 0-1, Jude 1-6, Fernandez 1-9); Somonauk 1-5 (Eaton 0-1, Bell 1-2, Lamb 0-2). Rebounds — Plano 42 (A. Martinez 8, Waller 6); Somonauk 26 (Roberts 5, Eaton 5).Assists — Plano 3 (Fernandez 2); Somonauk 7 (Eaton 4). Steals — Plano 18 (Miles 5); Somonauk 10 (Neidigh 6). Blocks — Plano 2 (Waller 1, Chavez 1); Somonauk 3 (Eaton 2). Turnovers — Plano 19, Somonauk 27. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Plano 14, Somonauk 16. Technical foul — Miles.