Girls Basketball: Crete-Monee stifles Shepard

Updated: December 28, 2011 11:40PM

Crete-Monee survived a nightmare first quarter to rally past Shepard 42-35 on Wednesday in the first round of the Bradley Holiday Tournament.

The Warriors (7-8) failed to score a first-quarter field goal, trailing 10-1 after the period. Crete-Monee entered the second quarter with some pep to its step. The Warriors opened with a full-court press and scored on their first six possessions to take a 23-17 lead into intermission.

“We had absolutely no energy to start that first quarter, and I let them know at half time,” Crete-Monee coach Danny Wafford said. “It was our press that really brought us back into the game.”

The Warriors’ pressure netted them 15 team steals. When Shepard did break the press, the Astros usually had just one shot at the basket, thanks to the rebounding of Crete-Monee’s Ashley Henry (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Angelik Young (12 points, 16 rebounds).

“(Young) really rebounds well for her size,” Wafford said about his 5-foot-7 senior. “If she were a boy, she’d be playing above the rim.”

With Shepard (4-10) trailing by four heading into the fourth quarter, the Astros looked to their leading scorer Amanda Weiss (18 points, 10 rebounds). The junior guard scored 10 points in the second half, and tied the game at 30 on a coast-to-coast bucket after grabbing a board in traffic.

Shepard, though, failed to control Henry and Young on the glass, allowing the pair to score six points off putbacks in the final two minutes to seal the game.

“The kids gave it everything they had,” Shepard coach Rick Mundo said. “We fought back into the game in the fourth quarter, but we gave up a couple of rebounds at the end. We go home with the loss, but it doesn’t feel as bad.”

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