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Sports
Working toward a complete game : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWorking toward a complete game
| Oswego East girls' basketball team overcomes slow start to pull within three, fall to Huskies in non-conference action
| by Kristin Sharp
| 12/13/2012
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Just when the game seemed to be getting out of reach, the Oswego East girls' basketball team put themselves right back in it.
The Wolves hosted Naperville North last Saturday and despite falling behind by 10 points late in the third quarter, Oswego East mounted a fourth-quarter rally to pull within three in the closing minutes.
In the end, playing from behind through four quarters took its toll and Oswego East fell to the Huskies, 51-43. With the loss, the Wolves are 3-6 overall on the young season.
"We have to stop getting out to slow starts," Oswego East head coach Abe Carretto said. "If we can get out and play even with a team, I think we'll be fine. Every game we've lost, with the exception of our first one, we get down and we're always playing catch up. Right now, that's how this team is going and we have to find a way to get off to a better start."
After a 2-2 tie to start the game, Naperville North took command and never let up against Oswego East. The Huskies exploded with an 18-point first quarter, while the Wolves successful made only one field goal following senior guard Venita Parson's opening basket.
Trailing 18-9 to start the second quarter, Parsons (eight points) sank a three-pointer and senior Brittany McWaine blocked a shot attempt to try and stave off the Huskies, but Naperville North only added to its lead, 22-12.
Junior guard Julianna Wadsworth (10 points) converted under the basket and added two more at the foul line for a 22-16 game, and McWaine (11 points) added two more free throws late in the second quarter. But once again, Oswego East made just two field goals in the quarter and trailed 24-18 at halftime.
In the third quarter, senior guard LeRoyia Campbell (14 points) got into the mix with a defensive rebound and a layup on the opposite end of the floor. Naperville North turned the ball over to Oswego East, and following a Wolves' timeout, Parsons drained a triple from the left corner for a 26-23 game with 6:12 to play in the quarter.
"We had to keep our intensity up," Campbell said. "We had it at the beginning of the game, but I think we didn't carry all of it over to this game. We didn't have that much confidence in ourselves, I don't think."
Naperville North regained its 10-point lead after senior guard Zoe Swift (16 points) went a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line, lifting the Huskies to a 34-24 lead. Campbell came through once again with back-to-back layups, and the Wolves matched the Huskies' 10-point output in the quarter.
Campbell was the first to score in the fourth quarter to cut Naperville North's lead to four, 34-30, and the Huskies answered with four points. Wadsworth had a successful putback and McWaine followed up with a jumper for a 38-34 game with 5:54 to play.
"Brittany, LeRoyia, Venita and Julianna, they get things going," Carretto said. "When they go out and someone else comes in, we need somebody to pick up the energy. Toni Robinson, LeNisha (Cruickshank), Sonja (Lewis) or Alex Wagner do that. It just has to be a much longer stretch of time. Sometimes when we take someone out, that intensity goes down."
Naperville North build a 41-34 lead as the Huskies continued to find success at the free-throw line, but with 4:35 to play, McWaine and Campbell found a combination that seemed to work on the court. McWaine, who had a game-high 17 rebounds, pulled down a missed Naperville North basket and quickly found Campbell, who took the ball across the court and drove to the basket for the successful layup. That combination worked a second time, cutting the Huskies' lead, 41-38.
"We had to make a comeback. We had to play our hearts out," Campbell said. "This is our home court and we have to play. I told Brittany that we had to play and we did what we said we were going to do. We just didn't catch back up."
As time ticked away, Naperville North went to the line six more times to help clinch the non-conference victory. Campbell assisted McWaine's field goal before McWaine scored the final points of the game on a putback.
Oswego East had just four players break into the scoring column - a statistic that Carretto would like to see improve in a hurry, in addition to the 22 turnovers committed against Naperville North.
"Defensively, we have to do a little bit better of a job, but for the most part we marked 22 turnovers and that has nothing to do with our defense. That's all offensive stuff," Carretto said. "If we take care of the basketball, I think we would win a lot of our games. Right now we're not doing that. We have to work on some things in practice."
The Wolves traveled to Plainfield Central on Tuesday, but results were not available at press time. Oswego East had a weeklong schedule break before hosting Oswego next Tuesday in a varsity doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m. The varsity boys' game will follow.
"Hopefully these next two games put us over the top," Carretto said. "We need to take one game at a time. Now, we have to win a few more to get a streak going and get us back to .500."
Notes: Oswego East won its first Southwest Prairie Conference game of the year last Friday, defeating Plainfield North 49-41. Campbell had 13 points and six rebounds while McWaine had nine points and seven rebounds. Parsons had eight points before fouling out of the game.
"Plainfield North played us well. We got out to a good start," Carretto said. "We had the lead and North had to come back. I'm tired of being the comeback kids. We need to get out there and play. (Friday) night we were able to get out to a good lead and held it. Plainfield North had a good run in the fourth quarter, but we relaxed. Venita fouled out and LeRoyia came in and slowed everything down. She went to the free-throw line and her and a few other players helped us win that game down the line."
Oswego East also released its reformatted Holiday Classic information. With 12 teams participating, the tournament will now feature four pools of three teams each. The final two days are crossover play to determine the overall champion.
The Wolves will start the tournament on Dec. 22 against Addison Trail at 4 p.m. before playing East Aurora on Dec. 27. The tournament ends on Dec. 29.
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