Eagles, Bearcats cruise at River Forest Sectional
By Dave Melton Post-Tribune correspondent February 7, 2012 11:28PM
Bowman's Aschelee Robinson shoots over the defense of River Forest's Alondra Avalos in the third quarter Tuesday evening at River Forest High School. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:22AM
LAKE STATION — Two decisive victories opened play in the Class 2A River Forest sectional, as Wheeler and Bowman Academy advanced to the semifinal round with blowout victories.
Wheeler (16-6) was first, eliminating Bishop Noll (10-10) with a 50-30 victory.
After a quick steal-and-score by Noll’s Milana Golich on the game’s first possession, the Bearcats reeled off 19 straight points. Nickole Finch was responsible for seven of those points, while Tijana Raketic added six more on a pair of 3-pointers.
“We got up early and that’s what we wanted to do,” said Wheeler coach Dustin Nelson.
“Tijana and Nickole got us off to a real good start. And when you’re shooting like that, it can put a defense back on its heels. At that point, we were able to dictate the tempo a bit.”
Nickole Finch finished with a game-high 14 points, while Raketic finished with 13 points.
Wheeler’s offense stalled in the second half, including an 0-for-14 third quarter, but not enough to concern Nelson.
“It was a little bit ugly in the second half, but I’m not too worried about because we accomplished what we needed to in the first half,” Nelson said.
“We wanted to get a lot of girls into the game and we had nine in by the end of the first half.”
Bowman (16-6), which has moved up to Class 2A after winning its first girls basketball sectional title last season in 1A, was even more dominant in the second first-round contest of the evening, cruising past host River Forest 72-35.
Using an aggressive full-court press, the Eagles jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead and never looked back.
“We try to into a more up-tempo game and keep the ball on our end of the court a bit more,” said Bowman head coach Janora Holmes.
“It has been working for us. But we did make some careless fouls. Down the road, that could cost us.”
RaShawnda Dunlap led the Bowman offense with 23 points. River Forest (5-16) guard Abbey Bryant led the Ingots with 12 points.
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