Girls basketball: Plainfield East comes back, speeds past Joliet Central 85-60

PLAINFIELD – Early in the second quarter Thursday night, Plainfield East trailed Southwest Prairie Conference rival Joliet Central 22-18.

That is not a position the Bengals, who won the SPC title last season, have been in often. They usually count on their pressure defense to create havoc for the other team and cash in on transition opportunities.

That was exactly what happened for the remainder of the second quarter and the rest of the game, as Plainfield East (4-3, 2-0) outscored the Steelmen (1-6, 0-2) 22-6 to take a 12-point halftime lead en route to an 85-60 victory.

“If we could have bottled what we did for the first quarter and a half, we could have been great. We stopped doing the little things correctly, and things kind of snowballed.”

—  Laura Brumfiel, Joliet Central girls basketball coach

Southern Indiana-bound Lexi Sepulveda was the primary catalyst on both defense and offense, forcing Joliet Central turnovers and converting them into points. She finished with 26 points despite sitting part of the third and all of the fourth quarter.

The Bengals are used to getting big production out of Sepulveda and fellow senior Anna Jenkins, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Thursday night, it was time for sophomore Dimora Shelton to shine, and she did. Shelton helped spark the second-quarter rally with a pair of 3-pointers and two jumpers from the lane. She finished with 16 points and four rebounds.

“With Lexi on the floor, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in watching her do her thing,” Shelton said. “But she is the first to say that she’s not the only player out there, and we still have jobs to do.

“We are a pretty young team, so we are still figuring things out, like what everyone can do and where their strengths are. It’s nice to get a few wins while we are figuring that out. The older players have been really good about working with the younger players to make sure we are in the right spots.”

The Bengals blitzkrieg continued to start the third quarter, as they went on a 13-2 run to start the second half and open a 53-30 lead that grew to 67-38 entering the fourth. Sepulveda had 10 points in the quarter, while Jenkins had six. In the fourth, Iliana Smith led the Bengals second-string contingent by scoring 10 points.

“We want to make other teams play at our pace for all four quarters,” East coach Anthony Waznonis said. “We feel if we can to that; there aren’t many teams that can hang with us for the whole game. We have good leadership with Lexi and Anna. The rest of the team is pretty young and still learning.

“Dimora Shelton did a great job, and she is learning what her strengths are at this level. She is very athletic, and she can get some rebounds for us and run the floor and get some points.”

Joliet Central was led by sophomore Elliana Fowler, who had a game-high 27 points, while classmate Naveah Wright scored 13. Senior Aubrey Weems scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Steelmen.

“If we could have bottled what we did for the first quarter and a half, we could have been great,” Central coach Laura Brumfiel said. “We stopped doing the little things correctly, and things kind of snowballed.

“Our two young guards [Fowler and Wright] played very hard the whole way. We will keep working hard, and we will keep getting better.”