FITHIAN — Showing the effects of playing their fifth game in six days, the Illineks lost to Georgetown-Ridge Farm 51-29 Tuesday night at Oakwood High School.

The loss dropped Uni's record to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the McDonald's Comet Classic, which began Saturday and will end Friday.

"I think we were all really tired," senior guard Sarah Pfander said. "It was hard to get really pumped up for this game. We just didn't show up. We were dead, there wasn't much intensity, we weren't hustling, we didn't seem like we wanted to be there."

After starting the season Thursday against Atwood-Hammond, Pfander and her teammates played two tournament games on Saturday followed by two more on Monday and Tuesday. They also had to wrap up a heavy class workload prior to Thanksgiving break.

Rachel Skoza scored 12 points, including 4 free throws, and was the only Illinek in double digits.

Fellow junior Jessi Sullivan added 5 points, while seniors Ruthie Welch and Aran Yoo each netted 4. Seniors Samantha Nguyen and Karen Woodley rounded out Uni's offense with 2 points apiece.

The Lady Buffaloes, meanwhile, raised their record to 2-1 after falling to Oakwood 44-37 on Monday night.

"Georgetown was a good team," Pfander said. "I might have given them the win even if we had
come to play, but it was ridiculous for us to lose by 20."

One of the Illineks' problems, according to Pfander, was their inability to create offensive opportunities.

"Their post defense was pretty good, and they essentially shut down Karen and Skoza," she said. "And for some reason, our perimeter shots just weren't falling. If you think about who we usually depend upon for points, like Aran and Ruthie, they just weren't making their shots.

"Plus, Georgetown had watched us the night before and knew we like to run the ball, so they were really good about releasing early on the transition and stopping our fast break. I think we only scored once off of the fast break."

Uni has one game left in the Comet Classic. The Illineks will play Hoopeston Area for ninth place in the 10-team tournament Friday at Oakwood High School. The game will begin at 3 p.m.

THE SEASON SO FAR

2007-08 GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL: 1-4 overall, 0-0 East Central Illinois Conference
(home matches listed in bold)

Nov. 15: at Atwood-Hammond, L 66-59 (OT)

• Story: Illineks drop season opener in overtime
• Points: Rachel Skoza 16, Ruthie Welch 13, Aran Yoo 10, Sarah Pfander 9
• Rebounds: Pfander 6, Skoza 5, Welch 4
• Blocks: Skoza 4
• JV game: Atwood Hammond def. Uni 35-12
• JV record: 0-1, 0-0

Nov. 17: Heritage (at Oakwood H.S., McDonald's Comet Classic), L 55-48

• Story: Uni falls to Heritage, Oakwood in Comet Classic
• Points: Rachel Skoza 18, Aran Yoo 12, Samantha Nguyen 6, Ruthie Welch 4, Sarah Pfander 4, Karen Woodley 2, Marika Iyer 2
• Rebounds: Skoza 10, Welch 7, Pfander 6, Woodley 5
• Blocks: Skoza 5
• Assists: Yoo 3
• Steals: Yoo 3
• JV game: none
• JV record: 0-1, 0-0

Nov. 17: Oakwood (at Oakwood H.S., McDonald's Comet Classic), L 75-57

• Story: Uni falls to Heritage, Oakwood in Comet Classic
• Points: Rachel Skoza 18, Aran Yoo 13, Ruthie Welch 11, Sarah Pfander 6, Samantha Nguyen 5, Karen Woodley 4
• Rebounds: Skoza 10, Welch 9, Woodley 8, Pfander 7
• Blocks: Skoza 5
• Assists: Nguyen 3, Pfander 3
• Steals: Yoo 7
• JV game: none
• JV record: 0-1, 0-0

Nov. 19: Milford (at Oakwood H.S., McDonald's Comet Classic), W 63-45

• Story: Illineks beat Milford for first win of season
• Points: Aran Yoo 19, Ruthie Welch 14, Rachel Skoza 10, Samantha Nguyen 6, Jessi Sullivan 6, Karen Woodley 4, Sarah Pfander 3, Michelle Wong 1
• Rebounds: Skoza 13, Sullivan 7, Welch 6, Pfander 5, Woodley 4
• Blocks: none
• Assists: Pfander 5, Welch 4, Nguyen 4
• Steals: Yoo 4
• JV game: none
• JV record: 0-1, 0-0

Nov. 20: Georgetown-Ridge Farm (at Oakwood H.S., McDonald's Comet Classic), L 51-29

• Story: see above
• Points: Rachel Skoza 12, Jessi Sullivan 5, Ruthie Welch 4, Aran Yoo 4, Samantha Nguyen 2, Karen Woodley 2
• Rebounds: to be posted
• Blocks: to be posted
• Assists: to be posted
• Steals: to be posted
• JV game: none
• JV record: 0-1, 0-0

Next game: Friday at Oakwood H.S., Uni's fifth game in the McDonald's Comet Classic: time and opponent to be determined. Click here for directions to Oakwood H.S.

2007-08 schedule: Click here for the Gargoyle Scoreboard.