Lincoln-Way Central girls outlast Butler Prep in OT at Loyola Tourney

WILMETTE — During a recent seven-game losing streak, the Lincoln-Way Central girls basketball team lost a few tight decisions.

The Knights were able to reverse that trend Monday at the Loyola Christmas Tournament, tripping higher-seeded Butler Prep 52-44 in overtime.

Kiya Newson-Cole led a balanced Knights' offense, delivering a team-high 19 points. Brooke Katzmann had 12 points and nine rebounds to go with a defensive tenacity that frustrated Butler Prep all game. Taylor Watt and Brooke Baechtold each scored eight points, with Watt delivering a team-high 10 rebounds.

Yet it was the defense by the Knights that led to the victory moreso than the offense. The Knights forced Butler Prep into 13 turnovers, including five in the fourth quarter and overtime. Central (5-8), meanwhile, turned it over just once in the same time frame.

“This was a very physical and aggressive game,” Newson-Cole said. “It was something. Defense won this game for us. We take a lot of pride in our defense.

“We weren’t shooing great early, but we knew we had to keep shooting and eventually they would go in. It’s nice to beat a higher seed and now we can go into Christmas feeling good.”

Butler Prep led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and 19-16 at halftime. Central tied it at 20 on baskets by Cole and Baechtold before Butler’s Kerminicia Wellington (11 points) hit a 3-pointer.

Cole answered with a 3-pointer of her own and, after a free throw by Wellington, Cole hit another 3-pointer for a 26-24 Knight lead. The Lynx went ahead 29-28 late in the third on a three-point play by Xyanna Walton, but Central ended the quarter with a basket by Cole and a 3-pointer by Baechtold to take a 33-29 lead into the fourth.

The Knights went up 37-32 on a basket by Watt, but Butler rallied with a 3-pointer by Walton and a basket by Cyra Conwell to tie it with 3:03 to play. It was tied at 41 with 1.3 seconds left and Walton was fouled, but she missed both free throws and the game went into overtime.

In the extra period, Katzmann scored on a putback for a 44-43 Central lead and Watt followed with a putback of her own to make it 46-43. Katzmann then hit a pair of free throws with 1:00 to play. Beachtold then scored off an assist from Aubrey Birmingham and Cole sealed it with a pair of free throws with :15 left.

“This was a tough, physical game,” said Watt, who was named game MVP. “I was just trying to box out and get the rebounds, then find our guards and get them the ball.

“It has been a bit of an up and down season, but this was a very exciting win for us. We really played well and hopefully we can keep doing that the rest of the year.”

Central coach Dave Campanile was more than pleased with his team’s performance.

“We have always been a defensive-minded team,” he said. “We want to keep it a half-court game. We went with a lot of 1-3-1 zone tonight. Usually we are a man-to-man team, but the zone worked well for us.

“Brooke Katzmann was just tremendous defensively. She is like our Energizer bunny out there. She really set the tone for us with how hard she was working. And, it’s nice to have a player like Kiya when we need a basket, and she is very effective handling the ball with the lead. It was a good all-around effort by everybody tonight.”