Girls Basketball: Brigid Hanley, Plainfield Central topple Joliet Catholic

Updated: December 6, 2011 10:25PM

A season after collecting just three wins, Plainfield Central already has doubled that win total.

But while that’s all well and good, Wildcats coach Mark Krusz knows his team needs to step up its play if it wants to have a breakthrough season.

The Wildcats improved to 6-2 on the season after capturing a 58-45 victory Tuesday over host Joliet Catholic.

Plainfield Central jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, expanded it to 18-5 at the first break and built a 31-14 halftime advantage.

Brigid Hanley led the Wildcats with a game-high 20 points, which included 15 points in the opening half, and also chipped in with five rebounds.

“I thought our senior leadership really helped us out,” Krusz said. “It doesn’t always look like we’re running a play, but they have such a good read off each other that they know what to do in certain situations, and I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Central also received nine points and five rebounds from Jessica Kaminski and eight points and six rebounds from Alex Harrison.

Other contributors for the Wildcats included Lauren Kulaga (7 points, 5 assists) and Jessica Munkvold (6 points, 7 rebounds).

“It was nice to get the lead in the first quarter and then build on it,” Kaminski said. “We had a lot of kids who were chipping in and that kept us going. We worked together well as a team.”

Although the Angels battled to the end and cut into a 48-22 deficit after three quarters, coach Ed Schodrof was disappointed with the loss.

“This wasn’t the style that we’re trying to build here the past four years,” Schodrof said. “On the flip side, I give Mark a ton of credit since he’s done a great job of turning his team around.”

Leading the way for Joliet Catholic was Miranda Morales, who scored 14 points, including four three-point baskets. Also for the Angels, Shannon Butler scored eight points and had eight rebounds while Naomi Mayes added seven points and five steals.

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