Girls basketball: La Salle-Peru starts strong, finishes in win over Kaneland

LASALLE – The La Salle-Peru girls basketball team took the lead off the opening tip Wednesday, as Brooklyn Ficek fired a pass to Olivia Shetterly for a layup.

The Cavaliers scored the first 10 points of the game, held a 10-point lead at halftime and kept extending it in the second half in a 44-24 victory over Kaneland in an Interstate 8 Conference game at L-P.

It was a much different story than Monday’s game in the Ottawa Holiday Tournament, when L-P led by 17 points at halftime only to lose 48-43 to Joliet Catholic.

“We finally finished a game,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “We made a run to start the game and held the lead the rest of the way. We went up 10, then it was back and forth.

“We’ve been in a couple of those games this year where we’ve lost, most recently JCA. So a big focus was slowing down and not getting in a rush. We knew they were going to speed us up, try to trap and press if they were down in the third and fourth quarters, and we handled it.”

After Shetterly’s bucket, Ficek found Addison Duttlinger for a 3-pointer on L-P’s next possession and later hit a 3 of her own to give the Cavs an 8-0 lead. L-P went up 10-0 on a basket by Taylor Martyn before Kaneland got on the board with a pair of free throws by Brigid Gannon with 3:58 left in the first.

The Cavs led 17-6 after the first quarter and took a 27-17 halftime lead when Ficek drained a 3 with 46.1 seconds left in the second quarter.

“We had more momentum than them the whole game, so we were just pushing and pushing. It kept us ahead,” said Ficek, who finished with 14 points and six assists.

The Cavs only scored five points in the third quarter but still managed to extend their lead to 15 as they held the Knights scoreless in the period.

“We were playing man, we jumped the ball, and we really helped,” Spencer said. “Olivia Shetterly had the best game defensively she’s had all year. She had a couple inches on the girl she was guarding. Her wingspan helped on help defense just with her having active hands. Bailey Pode stepped up when Emma [Garretson] went out [with an injury], and Brooklyn, Taylor and Addie chased girls around.”

The Knights, who shot 14.9% (7 of 47) from the field, ended their scoring drought when Kendra Brown drove for a basket with 7:21 left in the fourth.

“The second half we had to start pressing, and they broke it and got some easy buckets. We challenged the girls to come out and play defense in the second half,” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said. “We only allowed five points in the third quarter, but the problem is we didn’t score in the third quarter. That’s tough. We needed one basket to get us going, and we couldn’t get that one basket, and it kind of went from there, but a lot of credit goes to their defense.

“I didn’t mind the shots we were taking. They just didn’t fall.”

Along with Ficek’s 14 points, Martyn and Shetterly scored eight points each, while Pode added seven.

L-P (7-6, 4-1 I8) plays Mendota in a nonconference game Thursday before resuming conference play Saturday at Sycamore (8-10, 4-1).

Brown led the Knights with nine points, while Kailey Plank contributed eight.

Kaneland (8-8, 4-1 I8) hosts Ottawa (14-4, 4-1) on Saturday.

“We have a tough one on Saturday in Ottawa, so it will be good to get two good practices in, and then we have to be ready to go, because it’s one of the best teams in the conference,” Claesson said. “We’re not out of the conference race. Obviously, this one stings, but our goals are still in front of us, and we still control our own destiny in conference.

“We just have to bounce back.”