Girls basketball: L-P uses third quarter run to pull away from Rochelle

LA SALLE – The La Salle-Peru girls basketball team used big a third quarter run and took advantage of Rochelle foul trouble to come away with a 42-30 Interstate 8 Conference victory Tuesday.

Both teams came out cold from the field to start the game as Torrin Nantz drained the first 3-pointer for the Hubs, who then didn’t score again for 11 minutes while committing nine fouls.

The Cavaliers were 0 for 6 from the field while hitting only 1 of 6 from the foul line before Kaylee Abens hit L-P’s first field goal of the game to give the Cavs a 4-3 edge.

“I thought Kaylee Abens did a nice job for us tonight,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “We found out that seniors Taylor Martyn and Emma Garretson are out the rest of the season with injuries, so we need girls to step up, and I thought she did tonight with a couple big 3s.”

The first quarter ended with some not so glamorous stats with L-P hitting 1 of 11 from the field while Rochelle was 1 of 14. The Cavs also were 4 of 10 from the line with seven turnovers as L-P led 7-3.

Things did not get much better to start the second quarter for Rochelle as the offensive woes and foul trouble continued.

Abens drove the lane and found Olivia Shetterly for a layup, and then Brooklyn Ficek drove and hit a pull-up jumper to push the Cavs lead to 13-3.

With 3:55 left in the first half, Nantz hit a jumper from the foul line for the Hubs’ first points in 11 minutes.

They followed that with another short jumper from Sydney Tabor that cut the Cavs’ lead to 14-7.

Ficek distributed the ball well all night and used a bounce pass to find Bailey Pode for a bucket and an 18-7 advantage.

“I thought Brooklyn’s passing was on tonight,” Spencer said. “Funny thing is I thought she over passed at times instead of taking the shot, but she did a nice job of finding the bigs in the lane for us.”

Rochelle ended the half on a high note as Nantz drained a pair of 3-pointers that cut the L-P lead to 21-15 at the halftime.

“I told the girls that was the positive at the break,” Rochelle coach Ryan McQuade said. “I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it having four girls with three fouls each, but to cut it to six points was something to be proud of.”

Early on in the second half, Rochelle continued to play well as Nantz drove and converted a layup and Alivia Henkel followed moments later to cut the deficit to 22-20.

The Cavs responded with an 11-2 run to take a comfortable lead.

Shetterly got a putback and Addie Duttlinger got a steal and layup to push the lead to 26-20.

Seconds later, Abens hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Pode sank both of her shots from the charity stripe and followed that with a bunny shot to make it 33-20 Cavs.

In the fourth quarter, Abby Metzger hit a tough shot in the lane for the Hubs, but Ficek continued to find the bigs in the lane as Pode benefitted with a layup as the Cavs came away with the 42-30 victory.

“We did a nice job cutting the lead to two points there in the third quarter,” McQuade said. “But we sometimes have a tendency to take our foot off the gas after we make a run and that allowed L-P to go on a run of their own, and we just couldn’t make a dent after that.”

For the game, Shetterly led the Cavs (16-13, 10-4 I8) with 11 points with Pode adding 10. Rochelle was led by Nantz with 13 points.