Girls basketball: Jaylen Zachary, defense help lead Romeoville past Minooka

ROMEOVILLE — When teams play Romeoville, they know the players to stop are Jadea Johnson and Laila Houseworth. That athletic duo has given teams fits over the years, and prior to Friday night’s game against Minooka, Johnson was honored for scoring her 1,000th career point Tuesday.

Friday night, though, another senior, Jaylen Zachary, made a case for being another Spartan to watch.

Zachary hit five 3-pointers en route to a team-high 15 points as Romeoville remained unbeaten in the Southwest Prairie Conference with a 52-41 win.

With the Minooka defense concentrating on shutting down Johnson and Houseworth, it left Zachary open behind the 3-point line and she took advantage. She hit a pair of 3s in the first quarter and another in the second to give the Spartans (13-2, 6-0) a 31-17 halftime lead.

“I have been more consistent this season,” Zachary said. “Last season, you wouldn’t see my name very often in the scoring column. This year, I have been more confident. People know that you have to watch No. 20 and 13 [Houseworth and Johnson, respectively]. They don’t expect me, No. 10, to do much and I have been kind of shocking everyone.

“I have been working with the coaches on my shot. If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it. We don’t like the term, ‘ball hog,’ though. We want to play team ball.”

The Spartans played strong defense to complement Zachary’s shooting, forcing 20 turnovers in the first half and 33 in all. Guard Emily Gabrelcik was a key component in the defense, using her quickness and length to deflect several Minooka passes into the waiting arms of her teammates. Gabrelcik also finished with seven points, as did Kezaria Smith, who also had a team-high 11 rebounds. Johnson scored 14 points and had six rebounds.

“Last year, Jaylen kind of watched Jadea and Laila have real good years and thought, ‘Why not me?’,” Romeoville coach Devin Bates said. “She worked very hard all summer on her game and that is showing up now. She gives us another option and when she’s hitting, it opens things up for Laila and Jadea to work.

“Another big thing for us tonight was the play of Emily Grabrelcik. Her toughness on defense really sets the tone for us. She has so much energy. She is one of those players that people don’t want to go against in practice, but during the game we are glad she’s on our team.”

Minooka’s Makenzie Brass reached the 1,000-point mark late in the first half when she converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 49.5 seconds left. The game was stopped an an announcement made to mark the achievement, and it seemed to spark the Indians (5-6, 2-4).

Minooka went on a 12-3 run to start the second half, getting a 3-pointer from McKenna Delaney, five points from Brass, who scored a team-high 18 to go with nine rebounds, a basket by Kendall Thomas and a basket by Madelyn Kiper. Kiper’s basket brought the Indians to within 34-29 with 1:22 to play in the third, but Johnson scored the final four points of the quarter to give the Spartans a 38-29 lead entering the fourth.

“We switched up our defense in the second half and picked up the intensity and confidence,” Minooka coach Shannon Kleczka said. “When Makenzie got her 1,000th point, that put us on a roll and we cut it to five in the third quarter.

“Last year, we were up on them at halftime when we played here and they came back and beat us. We were hoping to flip that script, but they made some important plays at key points of the game. They are long and they get their hands on the ball a lot.”