By Andrew Lovdahl
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006, The OG, sports

OAKWOOD — The Uni girls basketball team is off to a 3-1 start, defeating the Blue Ridge Lady Knights 52-47 Monday at Oakwood High School.

The game was the Illineks' third in the Oakwood/Westville Lady Comet/Lady Tiger Thanksgiving Classic, and their tournament record is now 2-1. They have already improved on last year's performance in the tournament, when they went 1-3.

Junior Sarah Pfander led Uni with 13 points, while sophomores Rachel Skoza and Jessi Sullivan each scored 12. (Interestingly, in every game of the tournament, Skoza and Sullivan have scored the same number of points.) Junior Aran Yoo contributed 6, and senior Mandy Grill added 5.

Uni ended the first quarter ahead 15-10 and entered halftime with a 27-24 lead. The Illineks increased their lead to 41-32 by the end of the third quarter. The girls then fought off a determined Blue Ridge comeback bid, despite being outscored 15-11 in the final quarter.

“Although we started to kind of fall apart and play pretty sloppy midway through the fourth quarter,” says senior Bianca Zaharescu, “Merf [head coach Rebecca Murphy] called a timeout, and then we came back and fixed our game and won it pretty clearly.”

Uni plays tonight at 7:30 against the tournament co-host, Oakwood. Currently 4-0, the Comets defeated Hoopeston 55-21 Monday night. Uni beat Hoopeston 45-23 Saturday.

On Friday, Uni will play an opponent to be determined. The game will be played at Westville High School, time also to be determined.

For directions to Oakwood H.S., click here. For directions to Westville H.S., click here.

VARSITY RECORD: 3-1
(Home games in bold)

Season Preview: Illineks ready for season opener tonight

Nov. 16: Atwood-Hammond, W 37-35
— leading scorer: Rachel Skoza, 14 pts
— story: Illineks triumph in season opener

Nov. 18: Hoopeston (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), W 45-23
— leading scorer: Ruthie Welch, 13 pts
— story: Illineks win one, lose one in Oakwood

Nov. 18: Chrisman (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), L 50-48

— leading scorers: Rachel Skoza & Jessi Sullivan, 15 pts each
— story: Illineks win one, lose one in Oakwood

Nov. 20: Blue Ridge (at Oakwood/Westville Thanksgiving Classic), W 52-47

— leading scorer: Sarah Pfander, 13 pts

— story: see above