Harlem boys, girls basketball start NIC-10 season with victories

By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
The first round of tournaments had barely concluded when Harlem’s boys and girls basketball teams jumped into NIC-10 action.
Both did well as the Huskies opened with a one-sided home win over Belvidere. The Lady Huskies (1-1) also defeated Belvidere, but on the road, then came home only to lose to Auburn.
There was more good news for the varsity Huskies as it was announced that forward Austin Casteel had been named first team, all-tournament for his exemplary play during the RPS Tip-Off Classic, when his team finished with a 3-1 record. And it also was announced that a newcomer to the varsity team, James Cooper Jr., had been selected to the all-state football team for his standout 2019 season, when he passed for 2,340 yards and threw 25 touchdowns.
Boys results
In their home opener against Belvidere, Harlem allowed the Bucs to stay close throughout the first quarter. The visitors were down by just 10-8 when Lathan Lewis cashed in two free throws to make it 12-8, Huskies, as time expired.
Harlem played well enough during the second quarter and fueled by a 10-0 run its lead grew to 28-18, at halftime. But the Huskies shifted into overdrive in the third quarter and outscored the Bucs by, 34-11, to take a 62-29 advantage into the final period.
The fourth quarter went by quickly, thanks to a running clock, and Harlem celebrated a 70-32 victory.
In a postgame interview, head coach Mike Winters was asked by the Harlem Sports Network broadcast team what happened to prompt such an amazing third quarter? “We did what we were supposed to do in the first half,” was his simple answer.
The Huskies stepped up the defensive pressure all over the floor, and that forced the Bucs into turnovers that led to a whole host of routine baskets. Guard Dominic Dawsey engineered the assault, feeding picture-perfect passes to Austin Casteel that produced numerous layups. Between the two, they provided 16 of their team’s 34 points.
Casteel, sidelined for six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, scored 10 points in the third quarter. Dawsey contributed three baskets while points also came from Dominic McCarren, Cooper, Tarek Abdel-Kireem, Jared Jacobsen, Trenton Tucker, and Cole Buelow.
Everyone got into the game this night, with all but one scoring at least two points. Casteel led the way with 14 points followed by Dawsey with 12 and Kireem with nine. Adrian Shemshidini, at 6-feet-7-inches tall, was Harlem’s junior man in the middle. He controlled both the boards and Belvidere’s leading scorer during his time on the floor.
In sophomore action Harlem routed Belvidere, 56-22.
Girls results
Harlem opened the 2019-20 conference season on the road at Belvidere, where it secured a 66-49 victory.
Brielle Shaw was lost to injury in the first quarter but the Lady Huskies stayed the course and managed to take a 31-24 lead at halftime. They took control in the third quarter by outscoring the Lady Bucs, 17-9, to take a 48-33 advantage into the fourth period.
Ali MacGregor led the way for Harlem with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Grace Vborny added 18 points while collecting eight boards. Julie Bailey, Bri Jackson and Abby Hughart played strong in the second half; Kaylee Holt took a charge to provide a spark for the defense.
Auburn provided the opposition in Harlem’s first home game of the regular season and used a pressure defense to run up a 50-22 halftime lead on the way to its first league victory of the season, 84-36. The Lady Huskies dropped to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Harlem scored the game’s first basket but it was all Auburn after that. The Lady Knights applied a stifling press defense all over the floor, turning numerous turnovers into points while taking an early lead, 16-8. It was 22-10, Auburn, at the close of the first quarter.
Hughart banked in a shot to start the second period only to see the Lady Knights go on a 17-0 run to mount a 45-15 margin. Harlem put a small dent in the deficit on two 3-pointers, one of them by Isabelle Seipts, and a free throw from Vborny.