Oak Lawn's Jacky Canales drives in a game against Lindblom on Dec. 9. Photo by Jeff Vorva
Girls Hoops Wrap | Oak Lawn sees a lot in first 10 games
By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer
Oak Lawn’s girls basketball team beat Lindblom 64-14 on Dec. 9.
The Spartans also lost a game 52-18 against Wheaton North on Nov. 24.
They have just about seen it all while compiling a 6-4 record to open the season. Close games. Blowouts.
But they entered this week with a four-game winning streak that included the 50-point win over Lindblom and a 55-32 triumph over Thornwood to open their own holiday tournament.
The final round of pool play in the tournament was scheduled for Dec. 13 and the final round, including the championship game, is slated for Dec. 16.
Sandburg finished 1-1 in the first two rounds. Riverside-Brookfield was 0-2.
Oak Lawn’s Biance Fleitas had 19 points, six steal and four assists against Thornwood. Teagan Krzystof had 11 points and Denielle Dempsey 10.
Ammie McGrath had 12 points against Lindblom. Sabreen Ramadan had 11 points and Rihana Osmani had eight rebounds.
“When we’re clicking on the defensive end and we start getting into transition, that’s when we look our best,” Oak Lawn coach Mark Sevedge said. “Throughout the season with a couple of our losses, we haven’t been able to run, and teams were playing a lot of zone and we weren’t knocking down shots.
“When we’re shooting well, our offense flows but it really all starts with our defense.”
Sandburg coach Nick Fotopoulos (standing) is hoping that Juliana Paddock (right) will return soon from a calf injury. Photo by Jeff Vorva
Eagle grounded
Sandburg’s Juliana Paddock had ACL surgery on her left knee as a sophomore and on her right knee as a junior, but has always maintained a positive attitude.
As a senior?
Well, she has not run out of bad luck when it comes to injuries just yet.
She was on the bench during the first two rounds of the Oak Lawn Tournament with a walking boot on.
“It happened in a practice where she got a little tweak in her calf,” Eagles coach Nick Fotopolis said. “It wasn’t getting better. We’re hoping she can get treatment on it and be back out here soon.”
Mr. 200
Stagg coach Bill Turner picked up his 200th career victory with a 48-33 win over District 230 rival Andrew on Dec. 5 in Tinley Park.
The rest of the week was not as kind to the veteran coach as the Chargers lost 36-35 to Bradley-Bourbonnais and 47-44 to Wheaton North.
Correction
In the Dec. 7 edition of this newspaper, it was reported that Sandburg is hosting its third holiday tournament beginning Dec. 27 but it is actually the fourth tournament the Eagles are hosting.
The tournament started in 2019 with eight teams and Joliet West was the first champ. COVID-19 wiped out the tournament in 2020 and when it returned in 2021, it became a 16-team tournament.
Riverside-Brookfield’s Amanda Buckley manages to make a pass after a scrum against T.F. South on Dec. 9 at the Oak Lawn Tournament. Photo by Jeff Vorva
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