Danville girls turn back Shikellamy in HAC-I battle

Jan. 13—DANVILLE — If recent history had repeated Friday, one of Shikellamy's second-half runs would have been too much for the Danville girls and their strong effort would have been for naught.

These Ironmen, however, played the same aggressive defense and rebounded with the same intensity from start to finish, never allowing the visiting Braves to enjoy the momentum that comes with grabbing a late-game lead. Not only that, but Danville answered each challenge with a scoring spurt of its own, and surged to a 34-27 victory in a Heartland Athletic Conference-Division I battle at the Whitey McCloskey Center.

"We've played some good games in the past couple weeks. That was the best one," said Ironmen coach Wayne Renz. "They're a good team, and we made them not play well."

Danville (6-7 overall, 3-1 HAC-I) ended Shikellamy's four-game winning streak and pulled the Braves (5-8, 3-1) into a second-place tie in the division behind Jersey Shore (8-2, 4-0).

"They're a really good team," Ironmen senior Maddie Sauers said of Shikellamy. "They play super-intense defense, and the entire season they've been scoring around 40 points and we held them to under 30. That's a great accomplishment for our team.

"I think everyone's really satisfied."

Ella DeWald set an early tone with her play deep in the post on both ends of the floor. Danville guards Lucy Pickle and Grace Everett worked hard to frustrate Shikellamy wunderkind Lily Fatool. And Sauers and Ironmen freshman Maddie Merrell made key scoring plays down the stretch to punctuate the program's biggest win in several seasons.

"I feel like this W is a real big turning point in our season," said DeWald, who finished with game-high totals of 13 points and 10 rebounds. "I want the momentum to keep growing because I know this team can be, and is already, so strong. We've just got to keep working."

Renz trained his girls' focus on Fatool, a freshman with 40 3-pointers bolstering a 13.1 scoring average. She was good for 14 treys in the Braves' win streak, hitting at least three in each one. Fatool had to scramble for her looks Friday, and though she scored a team-high nine points, only one 3-pointer dropped in eight tries.

"The biggest difference was the communication of the girls on the floor," Renz said. "We knew with a 3-2 zone, and with Lily — we knew her ability and that we had to keep an eye on her — we kind of played the 3-2 with a box-and-one mentality where we were making sure we didn't lose her. That came down to communication."

"It was just all about the communication we had on defense," DeWald added. "Everyone was talking at every point of the game."

Fatool missed her first two deep looks, and the Ironmen forged an early 10-6 lead. If not for a pair of smooth jumpers from Paige Fausey, the Braves may have fallen further behind. Shikellamy shot 4-of-13 in the opening quarter, and DeWald pullled four rebounds.

Early in the second period, after the 5-foot-9 DeWald curled around a defender for layup and a 14-8 lead, Fatool drained a 3-pointer and canned a runner in traffic to pull the Braves within one. Danville pushed the margin to 18-13 with another DeWald take and an assist to a cutting Everett.

"At practice recently I've been trying to become more of a big, just because our team is pretty much all guards," DeWald said. "I'm just trying to use as much of my height as I can, go to the low post and draw that foul, and I've been working on a lot of up-and-under (moves)."

Shikellamy opened the second half with a 4-1 spurt for a 19-all tie. Fatool and Cassi Ronk made strong moves to the basket to draw even at the 6:23 mark. DeWald responded by spinning on the low right block for a bucket and later picking up a free throw on another low-post move. Sauers' long straightaway jumper soon made it 24-19.

The Braves were stuck on 19 points for all but four seconds of a quarter's span (7 minutes, 56 seconds), while Danville went 4 minutes, 48 seconds before budging from 24 points.

Blaire Balestrini ended Shikellamy's slump with a drive to the hoop, and Fausey followed with a jumper that made it 24-23 with 4:52 left. Fausey finished with eight points and four rebounds, while Balestrini added six and four.

Everett broke Danville's spell with a baseline jumper, and DeWald finished a feed from Pickle for another five-point cushion. After Fatool knocked down a tough 12-footer, the Ironmen quickly went 4-0 again. Merrell passed out of pressure on the sideline to a cutting Sauers for a hoop. Merrell then wrestled away a defense rebound — one of her 10 boards — and buried both ends of a one-and-one to make it 32-25 with 2:22 left.

"When she made the two free throws at the end — especially the way we were missing free throws (7-of-16 overall) — she stepped up and — bang, bang — two swishes?" said Renz. "They were probably as big of buckets that we've had all year."

Balestrini scored the Braves' final points with 1:48 to play. They were 0-for-4 with a turnover down the stretch.

"We've been in this situation a few times this season," said Sauers, who had eight points and five boards. "We've had a few really close games, so I think as a team we're starting to get used to the pressure. We played through it really, really well."

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DANVILLE 34, SHIKELLAMY 27

Shikellamy (5-8, 3-1) 27

Lily Fatool 4 0-0 9, Cassi Ronk 1 0-0 2, Paige Fausey 4 0-0 8, Blaire Balestrini 3 0-2 6, Allison Minnier 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 0-2 27.

3-point goals: Fatool.

Did not score: Olivia Solomon.

Danville (6-7, 3-1) 34

Lucy Pickle 1 0-0 3, Grace Everett 3 0-0 6, Ella DeWald 5 3-10 13, Maddie Merrell 1 2-2 4, Maddie Sauers 3 2-4 8. Totals 13 7-16 34.

3-point goals: Pickle.

Did not score: Theresa Amarante.

Score by quarters

Shikellamy;8;7;4;8 — 27

Danville;12;6;6;10 — 34

JV score: Shikellamy 40-20.