Lincoln-Way Central Defense Clamps Down on Plainfield South in Opener

One of the keys for Lincoln-Way Central's girls basketball team this season is how well the players execute on defense.

The Knights got a chance to show off their defensive prowess in Tuesday night's season opener against Plainfield South. Although head coach Loren Hess would have liked to have seen his Knights execute a bit better on offense, he had no complaints about their defense.

Central capitalized on many of the chances that came its way as the Knights captured a 46-16 nonconference victory over the Cougars in New Lenox.

"We're hanging our hats on defense, and I was very pleased with our defensive effort tonight," Hess said. "But we need to have more of a killer instinct offensively, since we left a lot of points on the floor.

"Defensively, this was a stellar effort and we just have to keep taking it to another level every time that we play. What I'm most pleased with is that we executed quite well all of the things that we've been drilling."

The Knights jumped out to a 9-3 advantage after one quarter and then went on an 11-0 run to build up a 20-3 lead with 3:30 left in the first half.

Rachel Post (12 points) scored six straight points and Courtney Paarlberg (9 points) added the final four points of that decisive run.

"It's great to start off the season on a good note like this, and hopefully we can take off and run with it," Paarlberg said. "I like that there's no negativity at all this year, and that we work well together is another big part of it."

Becca Buckner got a rebound basket a short time later to finally conclude the long scoring drought for the Cougars. Central took a 25-11 lead into the halftime break and then extended its advantage to 31-13 with one period remaining.

The Knights were paced by 12 points from Amanda Gagliano, while Caley Michalak chipped with five points.

"This was a good first game for us," Gagliano said. "I think we play very well together and we all connect very well."

The Cougars received five points from Leslie Hamilton, while Jacqui Eubanks contributed four points.

"We want to them to understand that regardless of whether they're used to playing together yet … we need to be there defensively on every possession," Cougars coach Tor Erickson said. "Early on, our defense was all right, but as the offensive struggles continued, I think it pulled down our focus and dedication on the defensive end, and that can't happen."