Girls basketball: Peotone tops Joliet Catholic to remain unbeaten, capture Blue Devil Holiday Classic title

PEOTONE – In the end, it was a day for the Devils.

Peotone’s undefeated Blue Devils took on Joliet Catholic Academy on Thursday for the championship of the 2022 Blue Devil Holiday Classic and came away with a 47-32 victory over the Angels.

Peotone functioned as a unit on the offensive end, no one part more important than the other. That was shown in the scoring balance, as Madi Schroeder and Jenna Hunter each scored 12 points, Abbie Graffeo scored nine, and Mady Kibelkis and Marissa Velasco each added seven. Schroeder and Kibelkis were named to the all-tournament team for Peotone (14-0).

“We try to be balanced,” Schroeder said. “We like to mix things up and use everybody.

“This was a fun game. It’s nice to play a team like JCA. It’s good competition, and they play really physical on defense. That’s not something we see a lot, but we are going to see it as the season goes on. I am proud of the way we played today.”

Schroeder, a 5-foot-11 junior guard, scored four of her points in the first quarter and five more in the fourth, when Peotone pulled away. She also was adept at finding open teammates when the JCA defense collapsed on her when she drove into the middle. More often than not, her passes found Hunter, who was a physical force inside both shooting and rebounding.

“Jenna is great in her role,” Schroeder said. “I know I can get her the ball down low, and she is going to score. Or I can kick it out to Addie or Maddie, and they are good shooters. Addie did a great job of handling the ball today and took some of the pressure off me.”

Peotone took a 3-0 lead early on a 3-pointer by Graffeo and never trailed, although a scrappy JCA team didn’t let the Blue Devils get comfortable until the fourth quarter.

Peotone went ahead 7-1 on a pair of free throws and a basket by Schroeder, but JCA got a 3-pointer by Ingrid Troha to cut it to 7-4. Peotone used single free throws by Velasco and Hunter and a basket by Velasco to move ahead 11-4 late in the first, but JCA countered with put-back baskets by Faith Pietras and Camryn Kinsella to cut the lead to 11-8 at the end of the quarter.

The Blue Devils scored the first five points of the second quarter before a 3-pointer by JCA’s Layla Pierce (seven points) got the Angels (9-9) to within 16-11. Four straight points by Peotone – a pair of free throws by Kibelkis and a basket by Velasco – put the Devils ahead 20-11, but JCA closed the first half with a five-point spurt on a putback by Lanie Czerkies, a free throw by Symone Holman and a steal and a layup by Holman to cut it to 20-16 at halftime.

“It took us a half or so to adjust to their physical style,” Peotone coach Steve Strough said. “We handled it a lot better in the second half.

“Balance is one of our strengths. We have multiple girls who can score from different spots on the floor.”

A steal and layup by Czerkies pulled JCA to within 24-19 midway through the third quarter, but an 8-0 run by Peotone, started by a 3-pointer by Kibelkis and capped with a three-point play by Hunter, pushed the Devils’ lead to 32-19. JCA scored the final three points of the third on a basket by Kylee Vercelote and a free throw by Pierce to make it 32-22 entering the fourth.

Peotone’s tough 1-3-1 defense held JCA almost scoreless through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter and gave the Devils an opportunity for a 10-2 scoring run that made it 42-24. Sophia Mihelich came off the bench to score JCA’s final eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Devils closed out the win and remained unbeaten.

“We don’t think about our record,” Schroeder said. “We just try to focus on the next game and go 1-0 in that game.”

“We couldn’t buy a basket in the second half,” JCA coach Kaitlyn Williams said. “There was a lid on the basket or something. Against a team that is as fundamentally sound as Peotone, you have to be able to hit some shots. They weren’t going to give us anything, and they made us earn everything we did get.”