Girls Basketball: Ramblers roll in GCAC tournament opener
BY GARY LARSEN Contributor January 30, 2012 9:12PM
1/30/12 Wilmette Loyola'sJamie Stoner (22) looks for an open player as they take on Queen of Peace in a basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30th. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:10AM
Win No. 20 came in dominant fashion for Loyola Academy’s girls basketball team on Monday.
The Ramblers’ early flurry of forced turnovers and good shooting catapulted them to an early lead and when they landed, they had a 61-21 win over visiting Queen of Peace in Wilmette.
And when you’re hitting shots and playing hard-nosed defense, it provides one vital intangible for any team:
“Confidence,” Loyola senior Michelle Ricolcol said. “We’re shooting and handling the ball with confidence, we’re playing stronger with the ball, and we’re pushing the ball up and getting good shots.“
The Girls Catholic Athletic Conference tournament win in Wilmette gave Loyola a 20-6 overall record, 7-1 in GCAC play, with five conference tournament games left to play through next week.
Ricolcol netted 10 of her game-high 12 points in a first quarter that gave Loyola a 24-6 lead. The Ramblers led 35-15 at halftime and posted a 16-2 third-quarter scoring edge that allowed coach Jeremy Schoenecker to play every player on his bench.
“Maggie Nick is a sophomore we brought up and she played really well. Sarah Elston is a freshman and she’s going to be a nice player for us,” Schoenecker said. “So in a game like this it was nice to see some other kids get into the action. Hopefully that can pay off for the state playoffs and for their remaining years here.”
Nick, Lauren Kriz, and Anna Schueler scored seven points apiece in the win for Loyola, while Kathleen Stralka finished with four. Non-starters Mary Kate O’Malley netted five points, Jamie Stoner and Egan Berne had four apiece, and Elston and Carly Callans completed a balanced scoresheet for Loyola with three points apiece.
“Our bench all season has been really good, really deep, and we have some good shooters and ballhandlers on this team,” Ricolcol said. “Sarah Elston is so young and she’ll only keep getting better. It was good to see the younger players out there playing together, especially with the seniors leaving soon.”
Nora O’Malley scored six and Erica Buck five points for the visiting Pride, which the Ramblers held to single digit-scoring in every quarter.
“We’ve done a really good job at home of jumping on some teams, “ Schoenecker said. “The seniors really want to be in the Saturday night game against Trinity, if we both make it there, and it showed tonight in the way we came out.”
Twenty-win seasons don’t come easily and while the Ramblers are having a whale of a season, they’re hoping for another chance at GCAC rival Trinity, one of the few teams this year to beat the Ramblers handily, 51-29 on Dec. 23.
“It was early in the season so we’ll see,” Ricolcol said. “They played sort of a two-triangle type of defense on us and left three of us open. We didn’t execute and looking back on it we know what we need to do if we play them again.”
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