Girls basketball: Cold-shooting Kaneland clamps down on defense for win over Morris

MORRIS – During a game in which a basketball team can’t seem to throw the ball in the ocean, there aren’t many other choices than to turn to its defense.

The Kaneland girls did just that throughout an Interstate Eight Conference matchup at Morris Tuesday evening.

Despite shooting a woeful 12-of-54 (22%) on the night from the field and an ice-cold 13-of-33 (39%) at the free-throw line, the Knights persevered and survived with their defensive effort to record a 38-29 league victory over the hosts and the standout performance of freshman Landrie Callahan, who produced an impressive double-double of 12 points and a whopping 22 rebounds.

Kaneland (9-9, 5-2 I8) stumbled out of the gate offensively and didn’t recover.

But its defense did force 28 Morris turnovers with stifling full-court pressure over the last three quarters behind the hard-charging effort of senior point guard Kailey Plank, who registered six steals along with a team-best 11 points and seven rebounds.

“Our shots weren’t falling tonight so we had to find other ways to score,” Plank said. “We really turned things up defensively after they got an early lead and we’re all very proud of the way we responded to a bad night shooting.”

Plank got some fine help from classmate Brigid Gannon who registered nine points and five rebounds as well as seven assists off the hands of junior Alexis Schueler.

“It was one of those games where we knew our shots weren’t falling so we had to change things up and create scoring opportunities with our defense,” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said. “Morris is a team that’s a lot bigger than us and their girl (Callahan) really had a great night. But our girls battled and that’s all you can ask for during a road conference game. I don’t care how we ended up winning. We just found a way to win tonight.”

In addition to Callahan’s special performance, Morris (7-15, 0-7 I8) received seven points from junior Abby Hougas. But after a strong first quarter, the hosts just couldn’t contend with Kaneland’s defensive prowess.

“They upped the pressure starting the second period and we figured they were going to,” Morris coach Nick Virgl said. “From there we just rushed and panicked too much and that was our Achilles’ heel tonight even though Landrie (Callahan) had an excellent effort.”

Callahan netted six points in the opening minutes to put Morris ahead 10-4 after eight minutes of play.

But Kaneland’s defense would start to gain traction forcing 10 Morris turnovers in the second stanza as the Knights inched closer as Plank laid in a bucket as the horn sounded with her team trailing only 16-13 at halftime.

Another 10 turnovers for Morris ensued in the third quarter and when Plank nailed a 3-point bomb from the top-of-the-key at the 4:40 mark. Kaneland took a 23-20 lead that it would never relinquish from there.

“Our team moved the ball really well on that possession and I was wide open for a big shot,” Plank said. “We didn’t hit many tonight but I was glad to get that one.”

The Knights closed out the third ahead 29-24 before Plank came away with a huge defensive play to help secure the victory with a big steal and her own easy layup with 4:20 to go ahead 35-29. Kaneland held Morris scoreless throughout the final five minutes of the ballgame.

“That last steal for me and the basket really gave us a lot of momentum to close out the game,” Plank said. “From there, we just knew we’d be able to get the job done and we did even though we weren’t at our best offensively tonight.”