Lake Villa-Carry-Grove’s 2-3 Zone Defense Disprated Lake Forest with more and more with each third quarter.
Scouts struggled to get quality shots or committed turnover, while CG pulled its leadership.
“We knew who his shooters were, so we really saw him,” Trozers said Sam Skaral. “We really helped on defense and ensured that no one was happening, so it really helps. We played with all our hearts. Our defense was actually a game changer. We didn’t let them do anything.”
CG, who played most of the man-to-man defense in the first half, caught control of the game with a defensive switch. Trojan held a Lake Forest up to 10 seconds on his way to win 47-33 at the Class 3A Lex Regional Championships on Thursday night.
CG (20–11) carries forward the Antioak section and will play the Vedon Academy Regional Champion at 7:30 pm on Tuesday evening. Wokonda and St. Viator play for that title at 7 pm on Friday.
Trozon’s coach Tony Moreti said, “We felt that we were another team, and we also felt that if we went to 2-3 zones, we saw some things at the end of the first half, which they did not adjust.” “We realized that we had a good opportunity with 2-3 fields to close them.
“They listened to us and took coaching. Our goal was not to beat us to our shooters. We expanded to one side of the zone and packed it on the other. The girls took coaching as they have done throughout the year.”
Title is the first of Trojans since 2018, and he did it with Emily Larry, a senior in the initial lineup.
Sophomore Kennedy Manning made a huge first half with five 3 -pointers on 5 -10 shooting.
“They were making a place for me because we are such a good all-round team that the defenders do not know where to go,” Maning said. “Never mind, someone is going to ‘night’, and I think it was just night for me.”
Lake Forest (15–16) led 21–16 with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter, but Maning took a lead of three 3s in the final 3:10 of the half to give CG a 26–23 halftime lead.
Maning faced a jam Pinky on his left (nonshooting) hand, but hit her last 3 just after that game.
“She is coming and growing every day,” said Moreti. “Big players play in big moments, and Kennedy is a big player.”
The scoring picked up scoring for 11 points with a rebound basket, a 3-paper and 6-6-6 free-thro shooting in the third quarter.
“After making a shot, it helped my confidence,” she said. “Everyone else gave me the ball, and we worked around it.”
The CG placed the scouts for 18.2% field-goal shooting in the second half. Charlie Axus scored 16 points to lead Lake Forest, and Sara Constantine added seven.
Scouts Coach Stasi Leach said, “They returned to their area, with which we have struggled.” “We don’t have the size to compete with them. They have a lot of size, and they are a great team. The area slowed us much at the point where we can’t find anything aggressively.
“I am proud of my children. They fought; they did a terrible job this year. Best wishes to Carrie-Grove. He is a great team.”
Elli Mazons scored seven runs, while Malana Kurtha and Larry added six to CG.
The Moreti opted to switch to the hapiest after seeing the effectiveness of the zone in the first half.
“On the film, he shot out Hek out of the ball,” he said. “We felt as if we had an advantage if we could increase them a little.”
CG forced 12 turnover in the second half.
“We knew that he is a very good team, but sometimes he did not even in the second half,” Maning said. “We came out in a 2-3 area. We packed it because, for some teams, we get very high and they go around us. We packed it, and they could not drive or get it in a high position.”
| Class 3A Lakes Regional Championship-Grove 47, Lake Forest 33 |
|---|
| Lake Forest (33)Constantine 3 0-0 7, Richards 1 0-0 2, Rockin 0 0- 0 0 0- 0, Rice 2-0 4, ACS 7 0-0 16, Hvast 1 2-2 4, Ekalo 0-0 0 0 0. Total: 14 2-2 33. |
| Carrie-Grove (47)Maning 5 0-1 15, Kurtha 0 6-8 6, Skarel 2 6-6 11, Larry 2 0-0 6, Majnas 3 1-2 7, Haslo 0-0 0, Nielson 1 0-2 2. Total: 13-20 47. |
| Lake Forest 10 13 7 3-33Cary-Grve 11 11 11 11 11 10-47 |
| 3-Bindu target: Lake Forest 3 (Axus 2, Constantine), Carrie-Grove 8 (Maning 5, Larry 2, Schel). Total dishonest: Lake Forest 18, Carrie-Grove 6. |
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