Hall trips Newark, but settles for third

SOMONAUK — It appears that a game against a very good Newark team is exactly what the doctor ordered for Hall coach Pat Cinotte’s Lady Red Devils.

The Lady Red Devils were ready to get rid of the sick feeling left over from a close loss to Hinckley-Big Rock Wednesday as the pounded the Newark Lady Norsemen 56-37 Friday night at the Somonauk basketball tournament.

“We needed this tonight,” Cinotte said. “All around I thought our defense really stepped up and also I thought Lindsay Wallaert was unconscious tonight at both ends of the court.”

Hall’s win created a four-way tie with Hinckley-Big Rock, Sandwich, Newark and Hall all going 3-1. HBR won the tiebreaker with a 68 percent free throw pecentage, Sandwich (61 percent) took second and Hall (58 percent) third.

Hall came out and looked sharp right from the start as Wallaert had three points and a couple of assists as the Lady Red Devils jumped out to a 12-4 lead.

Wallaert talked about her and her teammates’ quick start in their final game of the tournament.

“I think that late start each night and then getting up early for school was getting to us a bit,” Wallaert said. “Tonight we seemed like we have a lot more energy and we played a lot better as a team against a good team.”

Newark got things rolling a bit to end the quarter and cut into the Lady Red Devils lead to 13-8 Sam Akre and Laura Johnson each picked up lay ups.

In the second quarter it became the Wallaert show on the offensive half of the court to give the Lady Red Devils the lead heading into the halftime break.

Wallaert first sank a couple of 15-foot jump shots to take a 20-11 lead. Lauren McNanna hit a three pointer and then Sammi Larson both hit a long range shot as well as Hall led 22-18.

Wallaert then hit a pair of free throws to end the half with the Lady Red Devils leading 26-21.

The third quarter appeared as if Newark tied the game at 28 and then again at 30 when Tara Benard connected for a layup. After that it was all Lady Red Devils.

Hall dominated the rest of the half ending with a 26-7 run with Carly Prokup dominating on offense, defense, and on the boards.

Prokup’s rebound gave Hall a 32-30 lead then two free throws then pushed the lead to 36-30.

“Carly really stepped up in that third quarter and helped set the tone after the score was tied early on,” Cinotte said. “That got us started and everyone played solid the rest of the way.”

Prokup seemed to be everywhere that the ball was as she tallied eight points and six rebounds as Hall led 42-33 after three quarters of action.

The fourth quarter was all about team defense as the Lady Red Devils limited a very talented offensive team to just four points in the final eight minutes.

Wallaert ran off six more points in the quarter for a game high 18 points. Prokup had 10 points and 14 rebounds while Jen Andes added 15 points and 12 rebounds as Hall improves to 3-1 on the season.

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.