Ball Movement, Defense Propel New Trier Girls to Victory

With her team down three points late in the first quarter, New Trier coach Teri Rodgers was anything but happy. She called not one, but two timeouts in less than a minute after the Trevians had given up two straight layups.

But after those timeouts, something clicked for New Trier. Their defense became more active and the ball movement more crisp, eventually leading the Trevians to a 62-51 victory over Highland Park.

"When you have a team that played as well as Highland Park did, they're going to force you to play good defense and we weren't up to the challenge often enough," Rodgers said. "When we did do it, it was great, it worked well."

Highland Park came out of the gates running, pushing the ball in transition and getting easy layups at the rim. Senior guard Emily Feldman converted two straight three-point plays after getting fouled and Highland Park had a three-point lead near the end of the first quarter.

"Our advantage is that we're quick," Highland Park coach Jolie Bechtel said. "Definitely they were bigger than us so we had to play to what our strength was."

Normally a jump-shooting team that takes and makes a high number of three-point shots, New Trier's outside shots weren't falling. The Trevians made only three of 11 shot attempts from behind the three-point arc in the first half so they switched their offensive game plan and started going inside.

"Maggie [Lyon] and Hayley [Campbell] are amazing three-point shooters," New Trier forward Jessica Blackwell said. "But some shots weren't falling so we decided to swing the ball around more."

Highland Park didn't have a starter listed above 5-foot-8 so Blackwell and New Trier started to take advantage of the height mismatch in the paint. They went 9-for-11 from the field, all of the two-point variety, in the third quarter and raced out to a 47-32 lead. Blackwell scored eight points and New Trier got inside for six layups in the third quarter alone.  

A layup by Colleen McConnell gave the Trevians their biggest lead at the start of the fourth quarter. It looked like New Trier was going to pull away, but the speedy Feldman kept Highland Park in the game. She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and the Giants pulled within six with less than three minutes to go when Lauren Evans drained a three-pointer.

However, that's the closest Highland Park would get. New Trier closed out the game by hitting six consecutive free throws and they improved to 4-1 on the season.

Blackwell finished with 16 points to lead the Trevians. Lyon chipped in 15 points. Feldman had 23 points for Highland Park.

New Trier faces Maine South on the road Friday night while Highland Park plays at Maine West on Thursday.

"We're getting better, what we're doing now is learning," Rodgers said. "We have been shooting really well from the three…we just have to be able to adjust when we're not."