Girls Basketball: Parkview Christian turns away rare test, beats Westlake Christian to stay undefeated

YORKVILLE – Having beaten its first 11 opponents by an average of 35 points, the Parkview Christian girls basketball team has been dominant but not really been tested.

That changed on Tuesday night when Parkview Christian welcomed a Westlake Christian squad that the Falcons finally were able to pull away from late in the third quarter for a 52-36 victory.

Parkview Christian (12-0) outscored the Eagles, 25-14, in the second half and sent them and their upset hopes back to Grayslake.

“It wasn’t our best game, and we have only had one other game like that,” Falcons coach Kayla Linden said. “Our thing is to just win the quarter. We won each quarter when it counted.”

The Falcons came out like they have so often this winter and jumped on a team early. After giving up a free throw in the game’s first 30 seconds, Parkview Christian proceeded to score 16 straight points, a run that finally ended when Juliette Sigurnjak (21 points) buried a floater in the line to close an impressive 16-3 quarter from the Falcons.

Westlake Christian (9-4) didn’t go away like previous Parkview Christian opponents, but rather pulled to within 26-22 in the final minute of the first half and later to within 29-26 with 5:22 left in the third quarter.

“It was nice to have a challenge,” Parkview Christian junior Emily Howard said. “When the game gets close and becomes more of a challenge we don’t freak out. We don’t get all jittery and nervous because this team is so bonded. We trust each other so much.”

They certainly trusted the game plan of getting the ball inside to Howard because when they were successful in delivering her the ball, she usually could be counted on for two easy points. She finished with a game-high 22 points and added eight rebounds.

“Establishing the down-low game like that really changes the whole game,” she said. “It’s just easy bunnies going right in. That’s the fundamentals which is really key and we just broke out from there.”

Point guard Gracie Lambes was often the one delivering the ball into Howard’s hands, while also adding 12 points and eight rebounds of her own.

“It’s so much fun, especially when they finish,” Lambes said. “It was a lot of transition and we handled that very well and getting those (easy baskets) on the press break really gave us momentum.”

Momentum was key as Parkview Christian lost it but recovered it before ultimately seizing control.

“We had to keep our composure and told each other than we’ve been here before so play the game,” Lambes said. “So we brought everybody in and said we know how to play the game, we love the game, so we got this, it’s going to be OK. We can all put it in the hoop so there was nothing to be scared of, for sure.”

Parkview Christian’s other big inside presence, Maddie Linden, had six points, as did Liz Griswold and Zoey Matichak. While Matichak collected eight rebounds and Griswold certainly did more than enough hard work to earn more than a membership in the Jelly of the Month Club, with 18 rebounds.

“I do my part and some days I get rebounds, some days I get points and some days it’s assists, and today I got more rebounds,” she said. “Gracie (Lambes) and I just tied to get the ball down low to Emily (Howard).”

Her friendship with teammates is one of her favorite gifts.

“I love the friendships and I love the girls,” she said. “I see most of them in my classes and we’re always talking about the games. We have great relationships on the court and off the court in school.”

Griswold, who has attended Parkview Christian since kindergarten, has felt connected to many of her teammates for a big chunk of her young life.

“I thought in fifth grade that when Gracie (Lambes) and Emily (Howard) came here there was a connection,” she said. “A lot of the girls on the team have been a part of this since fifth and sixth grade so we just started that connection then and it’s just continued to grow into these future years.”