Girls basketball: Makayla Chism’s big third quarter helps lift Joliet West over Plainfield East

JOLIET – Whatever Makayla Chism did at halftime Tuesday night, she might want to continue doing it for every game.

Chism, a 5-foot-9 junior wing for Joliet West, made every shot she took in the third quarter, except for a desparation, three-quarter court heave at the buzzer. And even that shot was on line but fell short. She scored 21 points in the quarter and, early in the fourth, hit a 3-pointer to give her a career-high 30 as the Tigers rolled to an 83-51 win over Southwest Prairie Conference rival Plainfield East.

“I was frustrated in the first half because I had some early fouls,” Chism said. “I wanted to come out in the second half on fire, and I did.

“It’s all about teamwork for us. It’s not just one player. All 10 of us can do the job and when everyone is doing their job, it means success for us.”

West (14-12, 9-5 SPC) got off to a quick start and never let up. Chism started the scoring with a 3-pointer to get the momentum going en route to a 15-2 lead. Plainfield East (8-18, 5-9) stopped the bleeding after that and outscored the Tigers 10-8 the rest of the quarter and West took a 23-12 lead into the second.

If the third quarter belonged to Chism, then the second was all Maziah Shelton’s. The Tigers’ senior went 4 of 4 from the field, including back-to-back banked-in 3-pointers from the right wing, in the second and finished the half with 18 points. For the game, Shelton had 24 points and eight rebounds. Teammate Alaya Redditt had 15 points and five rebounds, while Brooke Schwall had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with six points.

Shelton’s consecutive 3-pointers put an end to a Plainfield East run that saw the Bengals cut the lead to 31-26 on a basket by Lexi Sepulveda, who finished with a game-high 31 points. Shelton’s two straight triples gave West a 37-26 halftime lead.

“This is a great win for us,” West coach Bre Blackmon said. “This was their last home game of the year, and they came out of the gate quick. We wanted to roar like tigers, and that’s what they did.

“When we understand our roles and everyone plays within their roles, we do very well. Makayla had a career-high 29 last week, and she had 27 at the end of the third quarter. I whispered in her ear that she had a chance to beat that 29, and she went right out and hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter and get to 30.”

Chism’s third quarter outburst allowed the Tigers to take a 68-42 lead into the fourth quarter, and that increased to 71-42 on Chism’s 3-pointer that started the fourth. East sandwiched baskets by Sepulveda and Dimora Shelton around a putback by Schwall before Schwall scored on another putback with 5:30 remaining to put West ahead 75-45 and start the running clock.

“We needed to be more consistent defensively,” East coach Anthony Waznonis said. “At times, we looked good, but we had some breakdowns. Hats off to Makayla Chism. She had a great night, and so did Maziah Shelton. They make that team tough to guard. If you try to take Maziah away, she can kick it out to Chism, and if you go out and defend Chism, they will get it underneath to Maziah.”

Blackmon was pleased to see the balance in her team’s scoring.

“Maziah carried us in the first half, and Makayla carried us in the second half,” Blackmon said. “Everyone played well tonight. We had some turnovers early, but I told them for every mistake we make, they owe me a good play. We had a lot more good plays tonight than mistakes.”