New Trier's Teska steps up defense against Evanston

Trevians move into first-place tie in CSL South

Sophomore Maggie Lyon turned in another phenomenal performance Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, leading the New Trier girls basketball team past Evanston 48-37.

But  the Trevians might not have won if it weren’t for senior co-captain Layne Teska.

At first glance of the box score, one might look over Teska’s one point, one assist and one steal. But her defense on Wildkits junior guard Leiya English for the final three quarters of the game stood out above all.

“I was told to just go on No. 2 and shut her down,” Teska said. “I really tried to do everything I could to make sure she didn’t penetrate and keep her far away from the three-point line. I did my best doing that. That was my main goal.”

English scored six points to pace the Wildkits to an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. After Teska began to guard her, English only managed one more field goal  and four points total the rest of the game.

“Layne was key today,” New Trier coach Teri Rodgers said. “We could not stop English at all. Layne came in and did a terrific job on her. I thought that was the key to the game. We slowed her down, and that helped us stop their offense much better.”

New Trier (21-3, 6-2 in CSL South) took the lead back early in the second quarter after Lyon drilled her first three-pointer of the game to give the Trevians  a 14-13 lead. Lyon (24 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) scored 11points in the quarter.

With 1 minute, 49 seconds remaining in the first half, Evanston junior Bianca James hit a three-pointer and got fouled. James missed the free-throw for the chance at a rare four-point play, but followed up her miss by grabbing the rebound and scoring to give Evanston a 22-21 lead. 

A Lyon trey and a pair of junior Abbey Schmitt (8 points) free throws gave New Trier a 26-22 lead at the half. 
New Trier junior Hayley Campbell scored all five of her points – and all of New Trier’s points - in the third quarter. Evanston(11-11, 4-4)  held the Trevians scoreless for the final six minutes of the quarter, and cut its deficit to 31-28.

“They took us out of what we like to do,” Rodgers said. “We didn’t do a good job of responding to what they took away.”

After James’ bucket got the Wildkits to within one point , Lyon scored the next five points. Evanston couldn’t get closer than four points after that.

“We were hoping to run the court,” Lyon said. “They did a good job of stopping us and getting us into our half court game. They knew us pretty well, so our offense wasn’t working as well as we had hoped. After we were patient and moving the ball around, it was working out better for us.”

Senior co-captains Molly Quirke and Amy Hart added six and four points, respectively, for the Trevians.
Evanston was led by James’ 10 points and eight rebounds. Junior Chelsey Ransom scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds. Senior Jackie Schultz chipped in with six points and junior Nichelle Campbell  scored four points.

“We made better decisions offensively than last time,” Evanston coach Steve Wool said of a 60-37 loss. “We’re right there. We’re as good as they are, I think.”

With the win and Niles West’s 49-46 overtime victory over Glenbrook South Friday, New Trier is tied for first in the CSL South with those two teams.

Photo:

New Trier's Hayley Campbell (right) goes after the ball as Evanston's Leiya English tries to slow her down during the teams' Dec. 11 meeting at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston. (Photo by Jon Durr/www.DurrPhotos.com)