Girls Basketball: DeKalb tops Geneva in OT

Updated: December 23, 2011 9:22PM

All Geneva wants for Christmas is answers.

Taylor White scored 27 points, including five three-pointers, and DeKalb outscored No. 9 Geneva 10-2 in overtime as the Barbs handed the Vikings their third loss in five games, 56-48, at the Benet/Naperville North Holiday Tournament Friday in Lisle.

Geneva (11-3) forced the extra session when Rachel Hinchman buried a three-pointer from the key with 10.6 seconds remaining in regulation to erase a 46-43 deficit. But DeKalb took charge in overtime, limiting the Vikings to two free throws by Sami Pawlak with 2:39 left.

“Terrible,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “I don’t know what to say. We’re just choosing not to play in the first half. We can’t continue to do that. We’re just not playing together. We got to regroup. We got to come back and play like we did at the beginning of the season.”

Geneva’s Ashley Santos led the Vikings with 13 points and six rebounds, but she did not score during the final 5:36.

“We were very excited about the level of competition that we were playing, and if anything, we should have come out with that hustle,” Santos said. “But most the games we started out flat. There’s something missing. We have to regroup and find it, because we’re a way better team than this.”

DeKalb (12-3) overcame a 19-18 halftime deficit by outscoring Geneva 10-3 to start the second half. A Hinchman basket gave Geneva a 38-35 lead early in the fourth quarter, but White answered with her fourth three-pointer with 4:49 remaining.

Two White free throws with 19.7 seconds left gave DeKalb a 46-43 lead, setting the stage for Hinchman’s short-lived heroics.

“We need to get back to our halfcourt sets,”Meadows said. “We’re getting away from that. Tonight, we were better in the second half. In the first half, whoever caught the ball it was like a black hole. We’re not playing team basketball.

“Defensively, we’ve been preaching helpside for a long time,” she added. “We’ve got to play harder. It doesn’t take any skill to play defense. It takes heart. We got to get back to that to hard-nosed basketball. That’s what we’re best at.”

Hinchman added 10 points and Morgan Seberger had seven for Geneva. Courtney Patrick added nine points for DeKalb and Rachel Torres had eight points and 10 rebounds.

“We have to re-evaluate our attitudes and our mental state,” Santos said. “We have to come in ready to go.”

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