Harlem’s Girls Basketball Team Wins to Open the New Year

By Bob Balgemann, REPORTER

 Harlem’s Girls Basketball Team was on a three-game winning streak when it greeted 2017 with a trip to Rockford Auburn High School. They made it four in a row following the 58-54 victory over the Lady Knights. A routine win appeared in the making as the Lady Huskies jumped off to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter and expanded it to 28-10 at halftime. But host Auburn made a game of it, coming back to command the third quarter, 23-14, and then score another 21 points in the final period of play. Jelena Pejic had 27 points to take scoring honors for the night.

Harlem (11-6, 3-4) once again featured a balanced offense led by Junior Paige Schneider with 19 points. Senior Kahley Logan was next with 18 points while Freshman Brielle Shaw chipped in 17 points.

The Lady Huskies will be back in action tonight (Thursday) at Guilford. Then they will hit a tough stretch in their lineup, with consecutive games against league-leading Boylan (7-0), second-place Rockford East (6-1) and third-place Hononegah (6-1).

Going into the new year Logan led the team with an average of 12.06 points per game. Schneider was next at 10.25 points per game, then comes Shaw, 7.13; Junior Klaire Boisvert, 4.38; and Sophomore Catie Daily, 4.1. Schneider is the team’s primary 3-point shooter, having converted 25 of her attempts. Next up is Daily with 10 from beyond the arc. Logan has 65 regular baskets, hitting 44 percent of her attempts, followed by Shaw with 41; Boisvert with 30; Daily, 15; and Junior Tambryn Hecox, 11. As a team, the Lady Huskies are shooting 36 percent from the field, hitting 202-of-560 tries. They are 159-of-264 at the free-throw line, or 60 percent. Leading the way is Logan, making 63-of-99 attempts; Schneider, 35-of-54; and Shaw, 26-of-40. Logan is averaging 8.25 rebounds per game while Shaw is hauling down an average of 5.94 caroms per game. Boisvert is next with 4.0, while Schneider has grabbed an average of 3.44 rebounds a night.

In Varsity Bowling, Harlem’s boys stayed close to home on Saturday and won another tournament, this time taking the Belvidere Boys Invite with a 6,736 pin fall. Sycamore was second, 286 pins behind, while rival Hononegah took 12th in the 16-team field. The Huskies’ Jake Nimtz finished first among individuals with a six-game total of 1,443, including a high game of 269. He averaged 240. Teammate Collin Day finished a close second with 1,427 pins, with an average of 238. His high single game was a 279, best of the day. Kyler Gerl gave Harlem three bowlers in the Top 10 with a seventh place finish. He had a 1,361 pin fall, good for a 227 average, and a high game of 268.

Harlem’s Boys Basketball Team (6-8) opened the new year against Auburn and lost, 67-36. The Sophomore Huskies dropped a close 41-38 decision to the Knights. Those teams will continue NIC-10 play at home tonight, against Guilford with the Sophomore tip-off at 5:30 p.m. and the Varsity to follow. In Freshman action, Harlem defeated Belvidere, 45-28.

Meanwhile, Harlem’s Varsity Baseball Team spent part of the day helping out at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Community service has always been important to teams coached by Doug Livingston and that’s continuing under the new Head Coach, Scott McCloy.

Harlem Cheer came home with a second-place trophy from the Buc Classic competition held Saturday at Belvidere High School.