By Jeff Vorva
Manteno’s girls basketball team has some “guarded” optimism after opening the Chicago Christian Knight Tournament with two big wins.
If the guards start leading the charge for the Panthers, they will be hard to beat.
The Panthers opened the tournament on Dec. 26 scoring a season high in points with a 61-31 victory over Chicago’s Christ the King High School.
They returned to Palos Heights the next day and turned on the defensive jets and beat Blue Island Eisenhower, 59-17, to improve to 8-6 on the season.
The Panthers were scheduled to take on Chicago Christian in the third round of pool play on Dec. 28 for a right to play in either the championship or third-place game. Those games were played after the Vedette’s holiday deadline.
Meanwhile, Manteno coach Bethany Stritar was happy her guards could make an impact to start the tournament.
In the Eisenhower game, junior guard Ava Peterson had 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Sophomore guard Lila Prindeville added 11 points. Alyssa Singleton, another sophomore guard, had eight points.
Some of the inside players did their parts as well with junior Bella Gigliello scoring 10 poinrts and hauling down five rebounds, freshman Maddie Gesky had six points, 10 rebounds six steals and two blocks and senior forward Sara Schmidt came up with five points and seven rebounds.
“So far the post players have been doing the job putting the ball in the basket,” Stritar said. “In (the Eisenhower) game, our guards were actually our leading scorers.
“It was nice to see them step up and knock down some shots. We’re finding that rhythm. We’re seeing some teams that we never get to play and that’s really nice. We’re also working on some things that we can do to make some adjustments for the second half of the season.”
Gesky had 18 points against Christ the King and Schmidt added 17.
Panthers boys also hot
Manteno’s boys basketball team also opened the holiday tournament season red hot with a 76-53 triumph over Cissna Park on Dec. 27 to open play in the Kankakee Holiday Tournament.
The Panthers, who improved to 10-4 after the win, were led by Nicky Johnson’s 26 points while Kyle McCullough added 12.
Lucky 13
Beecher’s boys basketball team kept its record-setting pace going with a 76-59 victory over Morrison on Dec. 27 in the opening round of the Warkins Cardinal Classic in Prophetstown.
Orlin Nesbitt led the Bobcats with 17 points, Zack Johnson added 12 while Adyn McGinley and Ethan Rydberg each had 10.
Heading into the tournament, the Bobcats squeezed off a 55-53 on Dec. 22 win over previously unbeaten St. Joseph Ogden.
McGinley had 28 points and Johnson added 13.
