Girls Basketball: Keira McCann, Geneva run past Wheaton North

GENEVA – Caroline Madden is a well-established player who has a reputation for toughness and defense as a guard for Geneva.

Sophomore Keira McCann, in her first varsity season, embodies those same features.

Madden and the team see it up close.

“I think [McCann brings] hard work. She’s just always hustling. She’s never taking a play off and I think that’s what gets her so many rebounds,” Madden said after Geneva’s 54-41 win over Wheaton North on Dec. 22. “That’s what gets her open for shots. She has a lot of clutch [3-pointers] in our past few games. I think [it stems from] her mentality and hard work.”

The Vikings (8-3, 5-0) remained unbeaten in the DuKane Conference.

McCann hauled in six rebounds and had six points for the Vikings in a complimentary role. The effort is carrying over game to game. On varsity this season after playing on the sophomore level last season, McCann is looking the part more and more.

“Keira played really well tonight and she played really well [last week] against Batavia, too,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “She’s a sophomore kid and we’re buying into her. She plays really calm, cool, collected and very, very smart. She’s a very smart basketball player, so she’ll grow, mature and get better and better every year.”

McCann’s rebounds led to multiple second chances for the Vikings, who were able to pull away from the Falcons in the fourth quarter.

Geneva led 40-39 going into the final frame.

Geneva’s Leah Palmer and Wheaton North’s Macy Pomatto traded layups to open the quarter, but McCann hit two free throws to kick off a 12-0 Vikings run. Palmer followed with consecutive layups and Peri Sweeney corralled a putback for a 50-41 Geneva lead with 2:23 remaining. Palmer hit two free throws and Madden put the finishing touch on the quarter with a layup in the final 20 seconds.

Palmer ended with 23 points and six rebounds. Madden had seven rebounds to go with five points. Sweeney had five points for the Vikings.

“I feel like I’m able to come in ... go in there and make open shots,” McCann said. “Leah, Caroline, Kinsey [Gracey], everyone, we do a good job of driving and kicking and the open shot consistently [is] going to be there. Just being able to go in and knock those down is huge for us.”

Wheaton North (7-7, 0-5) struggled in the fourth quarter after losing sophomore Brigitte Noyes to injury early in the second half. Noyes suffered an apparent right leg injury in the opening 20 seconds of the second half and did not return.

“She means a lot inside. You can tell rebounding-wise,” Falcons coach Tyler Bantz said of Noyes. “After she went out, that’s how they scored a bunch of their points. They were playing volleyball off the backboard and we just were not very physical. They got a ton of second-chance points at the end of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter.”

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Geneva’s Caroline Madden (left) and Wheaton North’s Zoey Bohmer battle for a loose ball during a game at Geneva on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. (Sandy Bressner)

The Falcons built an eight-point lead in the second half, but Geneva was able to claw back with Palmer, McCann, Lucie Garnier and Gracey all making shots for a 38-35 Vikings advantage with 2:13 left in the third quarter.

Falcons sophomore Anna Leich hit two free throws and Zoey Bohmer (eight points) sank a jumper to put Wheaton North back in front, but Palmer hit a layup before the end of the quarter and Geneva never looked back.

Sara Abdul led the Falcons with 15 points.

“We just didn’t really execute in the last eight minutes for sure, but [Noyes] is a big part of our defense and then she does some nice things offensively, too, but defensively, she clogs up the lane,” Bantz said.