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Pecatonica pushes to win ten of season
By Christopher Johnson
RANDY STUCKENBERG PHOTO The Gazette
Jaden Horton gets double-teamed by Byron’s Nick Kesler, right, and Max Connell during the first quarter of their game on Friday, Dec. 10.
If standing within a specific conference correlated with the overall win-loss total of each program, the Pecatonica Lady Indians would be in first place in the NUIC, perhaps by a full game or better.
That’s not how conference records come together though. At 9-2, Pecatonica’s loss record includes one from within the conference itself.
Freeport Aquin stopped the early season five game win streak the Lady Indians had generated, in a defensive gem, 43-23, this past Thursday.
The win by the Lady Bulldogs was earned after they learned how to stop the offensive attack the Lady Indians have been employing in a recent five-game win streak.
Putting points in has been a big part of the game plan for the Lady Indians since the November closing 58-22 victory over North Boone.
December opened with the Lady Indians hitting a new high in efficiency as they rolled over West Carroll 61-41 and moved to 7-1 on the season.
On Saturday, Dec. 11, Pecatonica took two wins down and they came as December tournament invitational play began.
In game one on Saturday, Pecatonica and Oregon, representing the Big Northern, had the chance to hit the floor in early day game play at the Polo Holiday Invitational.
How the bracket for championship ends up being built is influenced by how well each team does overall, especially in their opening round game.
Pecatonica had no problem scoring and it didn’t seem to matter where it came from as they began to collect points and run away with periods on the way to an almost 30-point opening round win.
The 59-26 decision moved the Lady Indians to 8-2 on the season and got them ready for game two of the day and it would be against a team they had already dispatched, with relative ease.
When Pecatonica and the Lady Thunder had met up a little over a week earlier, the Lady Indians did what they needed to do and supported their own cause as they won by 20 points.
Scoring wouldn’t be as readily available for Pecatonica in game two of the Plano Invitational. It was present enough to showcase different weapons in the Lady Indians arsenal though.
West Carroll showed it could improve defensively and kept the Lady Indians a little out of step, compared to how they had done in the earlier meeting.
The Lady Thunder couldn’t get to the point where they could truly threaten the eventual outcome though as they fell in slightly closer fashion, 48-30.
With the victory Pecatonica improved to 9-2 on the season and looked to push past ten wins this week, which would require additional “pick-up victories” in Invitational action this weekend.
Galena is a strong opponent and the Lady Pirates enter the Saturday match trailing only River Ridge/Scales Mound in the Northwest Upstate Illini West.
The coop Lady Wildcats are 10-0 on the year and hold a three game lead over Galena in the win columns in the West.
A break from tournament games is in store for the Lady Indians next Wednesday as Pecatonica travels to Stockton for the Dec. 22, pre-Christmas meeting.
