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MCHENRY — Prairie Ridge came together to win its Northern Illinois Holiday Classic semifinal game on Wednesday despite playing without one of its top players.
The team was without Addison Meyer after she rolled her ankle on Tuesday but the Wolves ran out to a commanding start against DeKalb on their way to a 34-29 win.
“We all worked hard together,” senior Kate Pactol said. “When we work hard, it just works out in the end, we trust each other. It’s a big part because we keep fighting and it gets us where we want to be.”
Wednesday was the final day of the tournament after Thursday’s championship was canceled because of expected hazardous weather. The game will not be made up at a later time.
“Sadly that’s it,” PR coach Tim Taege said. “We don’t get a chance to defend our title and it would’ve been great to do it again.”
PR (10-5) controlled the pace of the game right from the start when it outscored DeKalb 11-2 in the first quarter. The Wolves’ defense forced deflections and four turnovers, which led to PR playing the type of offense it wants: in transition.
Four different Wolves scored in the opening quarter and the Barbs didn’t score their first point until there was 1:40 left.
Both teams regrouped from sloppy play in the second quarter when the Barbs went on a 10-2 run to finish the third quarter to make it a 25-20 Wolves lead. DeKalb brought it down to a PR 32-26 lead with 3:11 left in the game but the Wolves moved the ball well to run out the clock and force Barb fouls to ice the game.
“We almost let up in the end, it wasn’t the same as in the first quarter,” Pactol said. “But we held through, trusted each other and kept working.”
Pactol led the Wolves with eight points and five rebounds and Abigail Kay and Isabella Pollastrini each scored seven. Grace Koeppen and Alison Storz each added six points.
Taege was proud of the way the Wolves stepped up despite Meyer’s absence and how they showed off development both defensively and offensively in transition.
“That’s where we’re seeing the most growth,” Taege said. “Those are the two-most critical things for us so I’m happy with that.”
DeKalb (11-5) played without head coach Brad Bjelk (illness) and starters Alicia Johnson and Madison McNeil. Cayla Evans led all scorers with nine points and seven rebounds while Kailey Porter added eight points and six rebounds.
Barbs assistant coach Ashley Sneed thought her team battled well to come back but missed too many opportunities throughout the game.
“They still came out and fought hard,” Sneed said. “We just had some unfortunate instances where we couldn’t finish.”
Both teams will be off until the new year when DeKalb will play Naperville Central on Jan. 5 and the Wolves will host Larkin on Jan. 6.
While Taege would’ve wanted to keep playing with the Wolves’ recent roll, he’s excited to get some rest as they prepare to make a run in the Fox Valley Conference.
“We’ve been on a pretty solid streak,” Taege said. “It’s nice to go 4-0 in the tournament and we’ll been playing really solid basketball.”
Grayslake North 52, Amundsen 38
Peyton Gerdes tallied a triple-double to lead Grayslake North to a 52-38 win over Amundsen on Wednesday in their Northern Illinois Holiday Classic.
The Knights led 34-31 with five minutes left in the game before Gerdes went on a 10-0 run with two blocks and scored the remainder of Grayslake North’s points. Gerdes scored 37 points and added 13 rebounds with 10 blocks.
She is the program’s all-time leading scorer and broke the single-game record with 43 points on Saturday.
“She’s had a great couple weeks so far,” Knights coach Brian Frericks said. “It’s nice that we have somebody like that, when we’re in a tough situation and need a basket we have someone we can go to.”