Maine South dominates second half to beat Niles West

Maine South 35, Niles West 23

THE SKINNY

The Maine South girls basketball team led by two points at halftime, but the Hawks held Niles West to just eight points in the second half en route to a 35-23 victory in Park Ridge on Friday night.

TURNING POINT

Niles West scored the first three points of the third quarter to take an 18-17 advantage. Maine South coach Mark Smith called a timeout after the Wolves took their first and only lead of the game, and the Hawks (11-7 overall, 3-2 CSL South) responded by going on a 16-0 run over the next 10-plus minutes.

THE STAR

Maine South senior center Hailey Schoneman scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Both were game highs.

BY THE NUMBERS

Maine South dominated Niles West on the glass, outrebounding the Wolves 39-9. The Hawks grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and eight different Maine South players snared three rebounds or more.

QUOTABLE

“We’ve been really emphasizing rebounding in practice and in games, and we’ve established that if we get more than 30 rebounds we’re 8-0. … There was a possession [early in the third quarter] where we got a shot and on the weak side we had three girls standing near half court not rebounding. I got pretty upset about that. We called a timeout and got into them a little bit, but they responded well. We weren’t panicking at that time. It was just it was a matter of refocusing our energy.” — Smith on the timeout before Maine South went on its 16-0 run