McHenry girls run past Woodstock

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WOODSTOCK – McHenry dominated the second quarter Friday and coasted to a

72-50 girls basketball victory against Woodstock in a Fox Valley Conference crossover game.

The Warriors outscored the Streaks, 17-5, in the second quarter to pull away for good. McHenry was led by sophomore Megan Mortell, who had a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds.

McHenry starters Alyssa Haayer (16 points, six rebounds), Ashley Conway (eight points, 10 rebounds) and Michelle Kelly (nine points, two steals) rounded out the solid attack.

“We need to play like we did today every time we go on the court, and continue to improve game after game,” Mortell said.

McHenry built a 24-16 lead during an opening quarter that saw a lightning-quick, end-to-end pace from both sides. The Warriors connected on five first-half three-pointers, allowing them to take a 20-point advantage into the locker room at halftime.

“Tonight was an example of how we think we should play every night,” McHenry coach Scott Morris said.

Also helping McHenry’s cause was its size advantage, which allowed it to outrebound Woodstock, 18-12, in the first half. It forced Woodstock to collapse on McHenry’s forwards in the lane, opening the way for the Warriors’ outside game.

As a result, McHenry (12-12) shot 9 of 16 from three-point range.

“The game’s real easy when we’re playing that (inside-outside) way,” Morris said.

Woodstock (7-13) seemed to find a groove, thanks to its transition play during parts of the third and fourth quarters, yet was unable to cut the McHenry lead to less than 16 in the second half.

Junior Chrissy Velasquez (16 points, seven rebounds, four steals) led all Streaks scorers, and Odie Peters (10 points, three steals) and Sharon Mwale (nine points, 10 rebounds) made solid contributions for Woodstock.

“Tonight was Sharon’s (Mwale) second game starting for us this season, and the last couple of games and practices she’s really proved her point out there,” Woodstock coach Marty Hammond said.  

Hammond said he believes Woodstock can contend with some of the area’s better teams if it executes its pressure defense and uses its transition game to its advantage.

“We’re looking forward to those moments,” Hammond said.

Meanwhile, McHenry feels efforts like the one it collectively put forth Friday could give teams fits the rest of the season.

“We talked pregame about how we wanted to pressure the ball, and we did a great job of that tonight,” Morris said.

“That’s two games in a row our bench (combined 13 points, 14 rebounds) was outstanding – we’re becoming pretty deep,” Morris added.