The Bellwood-Antis girls basketball team started out slow on Thursday night at Bellwood. Glendale led 13-6 after the opening quarter, but the Lady Blue Devils stepped it up a gear on both offense and defense for the rest of the contest to post a 51-41 triumph.
Shalee Hunter almost personally took the Lady Blue Devils on her back to keep the Bellwood-Antis girls in the game and turn the sluggish start into a big win.
Liz Erickson began the second quarter with a pair of foul shots, and Victoria Lombardo added one of two free throws, seconds later to begin the comeback. Brittany Webb sliced the Glendale lead to 13-11 with a basket before the Lady Vikings took a timeout to talk it over. From that point for the next 40 seconds, Hunter was a woman on a mission. First, Shalee hit one of two free throws. At the six-minute mark, Hunter hit a short jumper to give Bellwood-Antis a 14-13 lead they would never relinquish. Then, Hunter grabbed a defensive rebound and when fouled, added both free throws from a one-and-one opportunity. Lombardo ended the 13-0 B-A run that was begun at the end of the first quarter with a free throw by Erickson, with another bucket, before Brooke Legrand sank one of two from the foul line and Katee Budzinski added a basket. Erickson added a basket and one of two from the foul line and Hunter hit two straight free throws. Ashley Lechner completed the 20-5 second quarter by connecting with a trey from the corner to end the half with Bellwood-Antis in command 26-18.
Hunter scored all of the other five first-quarter points for Bellwood-Antis with two baskets and a foul shot that completed a conventional three-point play to give the Lady Blue Devils their first lead scoring a bucket and when fouled in the act of shooting added the free throw.
“Shalee had a huge night, she said afterward that this made up for all the shots she missed in the first game,” explained Bellwood-Antis coach Ali Stodart. “She came out and did a very good job. Glendale kind of took Liz (Erickson) out of the game with the defense they were playing, and she still ended up scoring 12 points. This is a tribute to her in having been double-teamed.”
“Shalee stepped up and played a monster game inside, rebounding offensively and defensively. We got her the ball, when she was open. Lauren Lender and Ashley Lechner made some great entry passes to her to get some easy baskets. We played very well as a team tonight.”
The dominance continued through the third quarter when the B-A girls came out after halftime. The score went back and forth, but the Lady Blue Devils (6-14. after a 1-7 start) got back-to-back baskets with a trey by Lechner and two-pointer by Lombardo, two buckets from Erickson and another by Hunter to open up the lead to 39-27 at the end of the third quarter.
“We changed up the defense with more pressure in the second quarter to our benefit. It forced them into turnovers and turned the momentum on offense as well.”
Glendale tried to make a run in the forth quarter, cutting the B-A margin to 42-34, but Hunter hit a basket, Lombardo added one of two from the line and a steal and basket by Erickson built the Lady Blue Devils’ advantage to 49-34 to ice the Bellwood-Antis girls second win of the season over Glendale, which fell to 1-19.
Hunter led all scorers with 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Erickson added a dozen points, five blocks, and 11 boards. Lombardo scored eight points and had nine rebounds. Brittany Webb added five steals, and Hunter had four.
Junior Varsity
Bellwood-Antis also won the junior varsity game 34-27.
The Lady Blue Devils carried an 18-7 lead at halftime, but Glendale’s junior varsity tried to make a comeback, slicing the B-A lead to six at the end of the third quarter. Bellwood-Antis matched them point-for-point in the final quarter, however to post the win.
Alycia Hippo led Bellwood-Antis with 14 points and Amanda Ingram added 12 points.
Kristen Gates and Katie Treese each scored six points for Glendale.
Bellwood-Antis 51 Glendale 41
Glendale – Boulton 0 3-4, 3, Budzinski 5 0-1 10, Dick 2 0-0 5, Gates 0 0-0 0, Kovach 0 1-2 1, Legrand – 1-3 1, Noel 3 3-4 10, Strong 0 0-0 0, Treese 0 0-1 0, Twigg 4 3-5 11. TOTALS 14 11-20 41.
Bellwood-Antis – Nevling 0 0-2 0, Ingram 0 2-2 2, Webb 1 1-2 3, Young 0 0-0 0, Lombardo 3 2-6 8, Lechner 2 0-0 6, Lender 0 0-0 0, Hunter 7 6-9 20, Erickson 4 4-6 12, Jones 0 0-0 0, Hippo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 15-27 51.
Glendale 13 5 9 4 – 41
Bellwood-Antis 6 20 13 12 – 51
Three-point goals: Glendale 2 (Dick, Noel)
Bellwood-Antis 2 (Lechner 2)
