Girls basketball: Quick start leads Morris past IMSA

MORRIS – The Morris girls basketball team started fast Monday night and didn’t let up en route to a 56-10 nonconference win over Illinois Math & Science Academy.

Morris (8-1) scored the first 20 points of the game, getting eight points from sophomore Landrie Callahan (team-high 16 points), four from her freshman sister, Laken, three each by Makenna Boyle and Emily Renallo and two by Maggie Steubinger in the run.

IMSA (1-6) got on the board with 33.7 seconds left in the first quarter on a three-point play by Ava Gonzalez before Morris finished the quarter with baskets by Steubinger and Renallo for a 24-3 lead.

“We got off to a good start, and we have been playing really well,” Morris coach Nick Virgl said. “We are tending upwards, that’s for sure.

“We are a young team, with only three seniors on the roster, six sophomores and a freshman. The younger girls are learning to play at the varsity level, so even though we are a younger team, we aren’t playing like it.”

Morris, which forced seven turnovers in the first quarter, kept the defensive intensity going in the second, forcing seven more. The Titans managed only one basket in the quarter, a short jumper by Rhea Shea, as Morris built a 40-5 halftime lead. Landrie Callahan scored the first six points of the quarter before the second five came in off the Morris bench.

Sophomore Lily Hansen, who plays Landrie Callahan’s position in the post, scored four of her 14 points in the quarter, while senior Abby Hougas had a steal and a layup and sophomore Brooke Thorson scored four points, getting each basket off an assist from Hansen.

Morris allowed one point, a free throw by Emerson Blair, in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Laken Callahan (8 points, 5 rebounds) sandwiched a pair of baskets around one by Landrie Callahan before Hansen capped the scoring with a putback bucket on one of her game-high 11 rebounds and then scoring off an assist by Hougas.

The second unit played the whole fourth quarter, and Hansen scored four points and Thorson also had a basket.

“That second unit got a lot of playing time and played well,” Virgl said. “It’s great to have a game like this where they can play a lot because they are going to need to have game experience.

“When we start playing in the conference, we are going to need the girls from the second unit to come in and give us some quality minutes. Lily Hansen did a great job tonight, and she is learning a lot by playing with the Callahan sisters in practice. We’ll really be able to see where we are at after we play La Salle-Peru on Wednesday.”

Landrie Callahan was quick to praise her teammates.

“We all work well together,” Callahan said. “It’s nice to have my sister in there to help me out under the basket. And the guards [Alyssa Jepson, Boyle and Tessa Shannon] did a great job of getting me the ball when I was open.

“Lily Hansen had a really good game. I am really proud of her for the way she played. It’s also good for us that we have two sets of players that go against each other. We all love competition, and it makes us better.”