With all apologies to her teachers, Larkin senior Marlee Kyles was a bit preoccupied at school leading up to Thursday’s game against rival Elgin.
It was the last regular-season home game for Kyles against the Maroons, and she was fired up.
“I was ready all day,” Kyles said. “I was just kind of pumped the whole time, getting my team pumped.”
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Kyles came out on fire, scoring 11 of her game-high 28 points in the first quarter to spark the Royals to 57-28 Upstate Eight River win. The Arizona recruit also grabbed 12 rebounds in her three quarters of action.
“It’s the first time since I’ve had her in two years that she didn’t have a foul in the first half, which keeps her in the game,” Larkin coach Stephen Knapp said. “She can do what she can do. She’s a double-double machine with rebounds and she leads the team in assists.
“It showed early. It’s good to get a lead early. It’s easier to play with a lead rather than chasing.”
A 3-pointer from junior guard Haley Bohne off Kyles’ feed ended a first quarter that saw the Royals (5-4, 1-2) grab a 20-9 lead. Kyles added seven points in the second quarter as Larkin took a 35-19 lead into halftime.
Larkin proceeded to put away Elgin (2-7, 0-4) with a 13-2 burst to open the third quarter. Kyles had four layups and a jumper in the quarter before taking a seat.
It was the second straight game Kyles took an early seat with robust scoring totals. She set the school record with 41 Monday against Addison Trail, but sat late.
“I told coach (Thursday), can I have another shot at it?” Kyles said. “He was like, it’s the Elgin game, so it was understandable.”
Knapp said that Kyles was fine with sitting late with a big lead. It gave him a chance to get some other girls some playing time.
“There was no reason to keep Marlee in,” Knapp said. “She understood. She was happy and wanted the team to do well.”
Elgin coach Nick Bumbales knew his team needed to get Kyles into foul trouble and hope that when she passed the ball her teammates would miss.
Neither of those things happened for the Maroons.
“It was a difficult night,” Bumbales said. “We were outmanned, there’s no doubt about it. We got a couple of them in foul trouble, but we couldn’t get Marlee into foul trouble.
“She needs to be on the bench for us to really thrive. They did a nice job.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance writer for The Courier-News.