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player ready...The Highland Park girls’ basketball team was having trouble finishing its shots under the basket this year, so last week head coach Jolie Bechtel made it a point of emphasis in practices.
It certainly seemed to work, as Highland Park continually found success dishing the ball inside, particularly to sophomore Maile Lunardi, in the team’s 63-53 win at home against rival Deerfield on Friday night.
“We’ve struggled with that all year, so it was really nice to see it work so well tonight,” Bechtel said. “We played well.”
The win was the second in a row for Highland Park, which had defeated Glenbrook North for its first conference win the week before. It was a big win for a team that got off to a slow start and struggled to win close games.
Deerfield beat Highland Park 52-44 in their first matchup on Dec. 9. But in this game, it was Highland Park that came out with an aggressive offense and a defense that kept the Warriors offensive weapons in check.
“We played well (at Deerfield), but at that point in the season we hadn’t won yet,” Bechtel said. “I think we were in a couple of situations where we had the lead, and we just didn’t know what to do with it. Tonight, we were able to keep our composure. They came back and we didn’t fall apart.”
Highland Park started the game four of four from the free-throw line, with seniors Grace Quirk and Rachel Retsky each sinking a pair, to open up a 4-1 lead. The Giants led 9-5 when junior forward Dahlia Cohen drove to the basket, made the shot and was fouled with 2:22 to go in the quarter. She sank the free throw to up the lead to 12-5. Deerfield was able to respond with a three-pointer of its own by junior guard Margo Sylvan, and the quarter ended with the Giants up 12-8.
In the second quarter, Highland Park focused on getting the ball inside and Lunardi scored her second field goal to open the period. She would go on to score 11 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, most of them inside off a pass from dribble penetration or a put-back from a rebound.
The Giants scored the first eight points of the quarter to open up a 20-8 lead, and by halftime they were up 34-25. Highland Park opened the lead to 13 points in the third quarter when another dish to Lunardi and another layup made the score 41-28.
But Deerfield continued to fight its way back. Deerfield junior Jesse Holloway dove for a loose ball, keeping the play alive and getting the ball into the hands of teammate Elena Brichacek, who drained a three to cut the lead to 41-31. Highland Park was able to keep that 10-point cushion through the beginning of the fourth quarter.
A put-back by Lunardi made the score 50-41, but Deerfield followed with a three-point play by Holloway to close the gap to 50-44 with 5:07 to play. The Warriors cut the lead to four with 4:16 on the clock, thanks to an assist from Sylvan feeding junior Alexis Borg for a layup inside.
But on the next possession, Highland Park’ s Cohen drained a three to stop Deerfield’s momentum. The Warriors stole the ball and a layup by Quirk brought the lead back to nine. Deerfield would never get closer than seven the rest of the way, and six more points by Lunardi ensured the Giants held on for victory.
“I thought our guards did a nice job,” Bechtel said. “(Deerfield) scored 53 points, but they have some good shooters. We played better defensively. I though Sydney Levenfeld did an excellent job guarding Margot (Sylvan).
“We’re playing better now,” she said. “I think we can learn from games like this and continue to get better.”