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Sports

Girls Basketball: Chess Match Goes Against Yorkville

First-place DeKalb pulls Foxes out of zone, pulls away in second half to notch 40-21 victory.

DEKALB--What looked like a strong start for the Yorkville girls basketball team quickly turned into a forgetable finish.

The Foxes dropped a 40-21 decision to DeKalb on Tuesday night. The 19-point spread was only slightly smaller than Yorkville's 56-29 loss to the Barbs in the first meeting between the two on Dec. 3.

Yorkville (7-10) held DeKalb to a one-point lead in the first half. Coming out with a strong inside defense, the Foxes let the Barbs (14-2) score only three points in the first four minutes.

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Then, DeKalb changed its strategy, holding the ball for nearly 2 minutes to draw the Foxes away from the basket.

“It was interesting," Yorkville coach Luke Engelhardt said. "It was one strategy against another. After thinking about it for 2 minutes, we got up in their face. We adjusted and talked about what we wanted to do and played the game from there.

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"(They) wanted us to come out of the zone. (They) wanted us to get away from the hoop, and our game plan was to pack 'em in and make them make outside shots.”

The Foxes came back with a three-pointer from Jenny Taptich in the first quarter. The second quarter brought four field-goals from the Foxes as they pulled within 13-12, though missed free throws prevented Yorkville from taking the lead.

Yorkville shot 30 percent from the free throw line during the game. A minute before halftime, a personal foul against DeKalb, followed by a technical foul on the Barbs' coach, gave the Foxes three shots from the line. Taptich missed all three under pressure from the DeKalb crowd.

Overall, Yorkville made only 1-of-8 from the line in the first half.

In the second half, Yorkville fouls led to 10 points for the Barbs on free throws, while the Foxes made both of their shots from the line.

“They’re a good team," Engelhardt said. "They’re athletic, and they took it to us. We have to do a better job of moving our feet. At times, we’re a little bit too aggressive trying to play with them. That’s what got us in the foul trouble.”

After several missed shots and three quick three-point shots from DeKalb’s Taylor White in the third quarter, the Foxes found themselves down 32-17.

“We tried to pack in a 2-3 zone and limit their inside touches," Engelhardt said. "They have two great athletes inside. And we were hoping they wouldn’t make their shots from the outside. That was our gamble. They made an adjustment, they started going out and we were a little bit slow on our close-outs, and that’s how they got open.”

Heading into the fourth quarter, Engelhardt pulled out his five starters. Yorkville made only one field goal and wound up with 21 points. 

“I’d say anybody that we put on the court, we’re trying to compete with,” Engelhardt said. “Whoever’s out there is going to do whatever they can to try to get a win. Some of the girls, we’d like to get them some minutes and see what they can do against whatever team we play against. I thought, playing up to the last couple minutes in the game, we played hard.”

Yorkville’s next game is on Friday at Rochelle.

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