Serena girls finish 2nd at St. Bede Tourney: Illinois Valley Area Roundup for Thursday, Dec. 28

Girls basketball

Annawan 42, Serena 35: At St. Bede’s Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, after a 17-all deadlock at halftime, the Huskers were outscored 25-18 in the second half by the Bravettes in the championship game Thursday.

RayElle Brennan led Serena (13-2) with 12 points. Gwyneth O’Connell had eight points, Makayla McNally seven and Paisley Twait six.

Fieldcrest 51, St. Bede 43: At the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, the Knights led 20-4 after one quarter, then held off a comeback by the host Bruins in the third-place game.

Kaitlyn White paced Fieldcrest (13-5) with 22 points, with Macy Gochanour adding 14 and Pru Mangen 10. White and Gochanour were named to the all-tournament team.

Lili McLain scored 10 points for St. Bede (11-7).

Putnam County 38, Newark 24: At the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, Ava Hatton had 15 points and seven rebounds to help lead the Panthers (15-5) to the win over the Norsemen in the fifth-place game.

Maggie Richetta added 12 points and eight rebounds for PC, with Gabby Doyle chipping in five points.

Kewanee 50, Sandwich 26: At the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, the Indians fell behind 21-2 after the opening quarter in dropping the seventh-place game to the Boilermakers.

Seneca 45, Timothy Christian 38: At the Lisle Christmas Tournament, Alyssa Zellers poured in 21 points, and Tessa Krull added 11 to help the Fighting Irish defeat the Trojans and advance to Friday’s consolation championship against West Chicago.

Newman 55, Mendota 28: At the Amboy Holiday Tournament, the Trojans dropped their final pool-play game to the Comets.

Ava Eddy paced Mendota with 12 points, with Laylie Denault adding five points.

Hall 61, Hiawatha 16: At the Amboy Holiday Tournament, McKenna Christiansen fired in a season-high 26 points to help the Red Devils defeat the Hawks in their final pool-play contest.

Ella Sterling added 12 points and Kennedy Wozniak nine for Hall.

Amboy 51, Somonauk-Leland 35: At the Amboy Holiday Tournament, the Bobcats fell to the Clippers in their final pool-play game.

Haley McCoy had nine points and three assists, while Abby Hohmann had seven points, six rebounds, and three assists for S-L.

Henry-Senachwine 47, Earlville 30: At the Earlville Christmas Tournament, the Mallards defeated the Red Raiders in the consolation championship game.

Henry-Senachwine’s Rachel Eckert and Earlville’s Madyson Olson were named to the all-tournament team.

Hinckley-Big Rock 40, Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland 26: At the Earlville Christmas Tournament, the Falcons fell to the Royals in the third-place game.

FCW’s Ella Derossett was an all-tournament selection.

Boys basketball

Ottawa 50, Sandwich 28: At the Plano Christmas Classic, the Pirates bounced back from an opening-round defeat to handle the Indians and advance to Friday’s consolation semifinal against Yorkville Christian.

For the second day in a row, Ottawa’s Huston Hart set a career high for points scored with 20 to go with six rebounds. Cooper Knoll added 11 points and 19 rebounds, with Aric Threadgill scoring nine points.

Chance Lange led Sandwich (3-8) with 10 points.

Ottawa led its former Interstate 8 Conference rival throughout, limiting the Indians to six points in each of the game’s first three quarters. The Pirates (5-5) led 21-12 at the half.

Yorkville Christian 62, Newark 61: In the consolation bracket of the Plano Christmas Classic, the Norsemen (2-10) fell into the 13th-place bracket with the one-point defeat.

Dylan Long scored 19 points, Payton Wills had 13, and both Jackson Leggett and Lance Pasakarnis scored seven for Newark.

Oregon 61, Mendota 48: In the consolation bracket of the Plano Christmas Classic, the Trojans were outscored 21-9 in the fourth quarter by the Hawks.

Aden Tillman had 17 points (five 3-pointers) and six rebounds, while Izaiah Nanez posted 13 points and 10 rebounds for Mendota (5-9).

Streator 67, Northridge Prep 46: In the quarterfinals of the Plano Christmas Classic, Streator didn’t play a perfect half of basketball over the final two quarters against Northridge Prep.

The Bulldogs came close in the first half, however, and that was more than good enough to comfortably move fifth-seeded Streator into the Christmas Classic’s final four.

“We executed flawlessly, I thought, in the first half against a good team,” Bulldogs coach Beau Doty said. “I think our kids came in here focused with a mentality that we want to make a deep run in this tournament and see where we’re at as a team. We’ve done that through two games.”

Logan Aukland’s 15 points, three assists and five steals led a Bulldogs attack that outshot the Knights 55.8% (24 of 43) to 36.4% (20 of 55) and recorded assists on 16 of its 24 field goals. Quinn Baker recorded six rebounds and two blocked shots to go with his 12 points, while Christian Benning scored 12 of his own to accompany four rebounds and a game-high five assists. Cade Peterson with 10 points, Matt Williamson with seven and Nolan Lukach with six – all three off the bench – were next on Streator’s scoresheet.

The Bulldogs’ fantastic first half was powered by selfless passing and relentless defense. Streator’s full-court pressure had a more disrupting effect – over the opening quarters, anyway – than Northridge’s trap-heavy defense. By the half, the Bulldogs led 40-19.

“We just brought the pressure, and that’s what we’re best at,” said Isaiah Weibel, the point of the Bulldogs defense who also added five points and three assists to his three steals. “We picked them up full court, and I had Landon [Muntz] helping me on their point guard, and that helped us to bring the pressure.

“The best thing for us is being scrappers, effort from everybody.”

– Read J.T. Pedelty’s full report on this game at shawlocal.com/illinois-valley.

Marquette 65, Dwight 45: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Crusaders used a strong final three quarters in defeating the Trojans.

Denver Trainor fired in 25 points, Alec Novotney added 19, and Charlie Mullen chipped in 11 for Marquette (8-6), which moved on to Friday’s 5 p.m. fifth-place game.

Luke Gallet had 15 points for Dwight (6-8).

Hall 61, Woodland 48: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Red Devils advanced to Friday’s fifth-place game against Marquette with the win over the Warriors.

Max Bryant led Hall (7-7) with 18 points, with Wyatt West adding 14.

Nick Plesko poured in a game-high 29 points with Jonathan Moore and Nolan Price adding six each for Woodland (10-5), which was sent to face Dwight on Friday in the seventh-place game.

Somonauk 65, Reed-Custer 50: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Bobcats used balanced scoring in topping the Comets.

Carson Bahrey had 16 points, Weston Hannibal 13, Silas Johnson 12 and Brock Sexton 11 for Somonauk (9-5), which plays in the consolation championship Friday.

Coal City 56, St. Bede 45: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Bruins fell into the 15th-place game against Putnam County on Friday morning.

Mason Ross and Alex Ankieicz each scored 10 points for the Bedans (2-14), with Phillip Gray adding nine.

Gardner-South Wilmington 54, Putnam County 51: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Panthers slipped into the 15th-place game.

Orlando Harris scored 16 points, Owen Saepharn scored 11, and Jaden Stoddard added seven for Putnam County (3-13).

Luther North 55, Seneca 45: At the Effingham/Teutopolis Christmas Classic, the Fighting Irish dropped their opener to the team from Missouri, sending Seneca (8-4) to play Chicago Brooks on Friday in the consolation bracket.

Leland 61, DePue 49: At the LaMoille Holiday Classic, Gunnar Nelson led Leland (5-11) with 17 points, while Geno Schwager had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Austin Todd handed out six assists for Leland, which advanced to the consolation championship.

DePue (3-11) plays Calvary Christian in the consolation third-place game.

Annawan 74, LaMoille 20: At the LaMoille Holiday Classic, the Lions (4-10) fell to the Braves and into Friday’s third-place game.

Fieldcrest 57, East Dubuque 40: At the State Farm Classic in Bloomington, the Knights used a 23-5 third quarter advantage in the win over the Warriors.

Fieldcrest (11-1) moved on to face Quincy Notre Dame on Friday in the consolation bracket semifinals.

Girls wrestling

Ottawa hosts invite: A number of athletes from Ottawa, Streator and Seneca competed well at the third annual Ottawa Invite at Kingman and Love gyms.

For the host Pirates, Juliana Thrush went 3-0 and took home first place, Val Munoz went 3-1 and earned second place, and Ciara Bolf went 3-1 and finished third. Evy Grady (2-2), Emma Yawn (1-2) and Ava Weatherford (1-2) took to the mat for Ottawa.

For Streator, Lily Gwaltney placed second at 105 pounds after going 3-1 and earning a pair of pins. At 110, Payton Henson finished sixth going 3-2 and earning all her wins by pin. Lexy Jensen (235) and Addison Yacko (105) each finished 2-2, while Isabel Gwaltney (110) recorded a win via pinfall.

For Seneca, Sammie Griesen went 3-1 and finished second, while Kyra Wood went 2-2.