Girls Basketball: Pressure defense pushes Ridgewood past Elmwood Park

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Ridgewood's Ashley Frey tries to get around Elmwood Park's Amanda Tillich. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:11AM

A promising start turned into a de-press-ing finish for the Elmwood Park girls basketball team, as it crumbled under Ridgewood’s defensive pressure in the second quarter and fell 53-40 at home Friday night.

Elmwood Park committed only one turnover in the opening period, jumping out to a 14-9 lead in front of a Pack-the-Place crowd that didn’t let a snowstorm prevent it from turning out to support the Tigers (7-14, 2-5 Metro Suburban Conference).

But things quickly turned Ridgewood’s way in the second quarter, when the Rebels tightened the defensive screws with a full-court press. That resulted in six turnovers in the first two minutes of the frame, which held the Tigers to just two points and turned an early advantage into a 27-16 halftime deficit.

“We didn’t play well at all,” said Elmwood Park head coach Brian Linhart. “We came out kind of down, even though we led after the first quarter, and when we started to finally pick things up, it was too late. It was probably the worst game I’ve seen us play, and it’s very disappointing because it was Pack-the-Place night and it was against our rival. We just looked like we didn’t want to be here. We need more discipline. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds, we had 13 team fouls and way too many turnovers. I don’t think we gave Ridgewood enough respect. They beat Riverside-Brookfield, the best team in our conference, and they hung with Guerin. I give them a world of respect. They’re a good team, and I think maybe the girls just thought this was going to be an easy win.”

The Tigers came out and took command early on, as senior guard Adrianna Maron — who scored a team-high 15 points, pulled down six rebounds and had three steals — scored five points in the first quarter, while junior Olga Lipiszko drained a pair of three-pointers off the bench to help her team build a five-point lead.

Things began to fall apart in the second quarter, as junior Becca Schmidt scored her team’s lone hoop of the period. Meanwhile, junior Jackie Stroud and Mallory McCormack heated up for Ridgewood, tallying five and eight points, respectively, to ignite a 18-2 run.

“I wanted to pick the tempo up because I thought it was a little too slow early, so I got us in a press and we started to get some turnovers, started to get some easy baskets off of that, so that was huge for the girls just to get them going a little bit,” said Ridgewood head coach Karl Frixen. “That’s exactly what (Elmwood Park) wanted — slow, methodical play — so I took a chance with a press and it worked. They didn’t know how to break our press. We had some lapses, but for the most part we took care of the basketball pretty well, moved the ball around well offensively, took our time and had good shots. When we played them the first time and lost, we had good shots, but just couldn’t hit them. (Friday night), we did.”

But Elmwod Park still had some life left, and wasn’t about to go down easily, cutting a 14-point deficit down to five in the third.

The Tigers started to make a comeback run after a bucket by Schmidt (6 points) cut the Rebels’ lead to 31-20. That’s when junior Joanna Buckowinski (9 points, 6 rebounds) started to find the range after being held scoreless in the first half. She drained a three-pointer to bring the cushion down to 31-23.

Maron also popped in two field goals, and added a third on a layup — after a steal — cutting the Ridgwood advantage to 34-29 with 1 minute, 46 seconds to go in the third. After a clutch three-pointer by Stroud, it was Maron, again, with a swipe and a hoop to make it 37-31 entering the final period.

Stroud’s eight third-quarter points helped keep the Rebels in front, but it was junior Ines Grepo who put the final stamp on the victory in the fourth.

Grepo hit her first shot of the contest — a bomb from beyond the arc — with six minutes left in the final quarter, turning a 37-32 lead into an eight-point cushion. And she didn’t stop there. The 5-foot-7 guard canned another one from downtown, and connected on a two-point shot from the paint, scoring all nine of her points in the second half, including eight in the fourth quarter. Stroud tallied 13 of her 21 points after halftime.

“We had some lapses, but for the most part we took care of the basketball pretty well, moved the ball around well offensively, took our time and had good shots,” Frixen said. “When we played them the first time and lost, we had good shots but just couldn’t hit them. This time, we did.”

The Elmwood Park bench outscored Ridgewood 13-7, led by Lipiszko, who finished with seven points. Saldana Nikezic contributed five points for the Rebels. Carrie Pilman added three points, all in the first quarter, and hauled down eight rebounds.

“We don’t have that killer instinct, even on our court,” Linhart said. “Ridgewood is our rival, and we should want it more. The effort we put forth really bothers me. For a short stretch, I saw the intensity, saw the team we can be. But we’re not talented enough to where we can have a five-minute stretch of great play and expect to win. The only thing you can control on the basketball court is your effort, and it just wasn’t there.”

The Tigers, who were scheduled to play Timothy Christian on Tuesday, will visit Fenton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.