After a sluggish start to Monday’s nonconference game against Yorkville, the Oswego East girls basketball team made some adjustments and showed how explosive it can be when things are going well.
The Wolves opened the third quarter on a 16-2 run to break a 20-20 tie and cruised to a 59-41 win to improve to 9-9 on the season.
“First quarter, we didn’t have it going,” Oswego East coach Abe Carretto said. “(Yorkville) did a nice job. We had some nice adjustments in the second quarter to tie it up. Then after that we talked about those adjustments a little bit more at halftime, and talked about working the ball inside a little bit more. We had a lot more opportunities (in the second half).”
Yorkville (7-7) held a 14-6 lead at the start of the second quarter when Oswego East started to climb back into the game. A three-pointer by the Wolves’ Nia Flowers, followed by a three-point play the next trip down, tied it 20-20 at the break.
Oswego East shot only 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first half, but still managed to tie.
In the third quarter, all four of the Wolves’ stars got involved in the 16-2 run that changed the tide of the game. Venita Parsons and Julianna Wadsworth each scored five points, Flowers scored four and freshman Sydney Schultz started the run with a bucket that gave the Wolves the lead for good.
“We just needed to figure out how to get a spark,” Wadsworth said. “Everybody had to play their role. I guess we came out and played well.”
Wadsworth paced Oswego East with 16 points. Schultz had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Flowers scored 12 in the win.
Yorkville was coming off a tough overtime loss to Sycamore, only to see a chance at beating a fellow Class 4A opponent on the road fall by the wayside with a tough second half . Senior Lindsey Schlichting led all scorers with 23 points, but the rest of the starting lineup combined for only nine points, and the team’s second-leading scorer was Rebekah Hahn with four.
“Our seniors, other than Lindsey, I need more out of (Rachael Owens and Corrine Rowe),” Yorkville coach Luke Engelhardt said. “They’re great players. They combined for two points. That’s when other kids need to step up. It’s great that Lindsey had 23, but we want balance. I’d rather have three players equal that amount. We’ve been doing that when we’ve been successful. When we’re not, that’s what happens.”
