Girls Basketball: Karopulos, Botich Pave Way for Andrew

There wasn’t much suspense in Andrew’s matchup with Thornwood on Tuesday night, but that was just fine with the Thunderbolts.

Sophomore guard Tiana Karopulos and junior forward/center Nicole Botich combined for 32 points as Andrew jumped out to a 24-2 lead at the end of one quarter and rolled to a 53-29 victory in South Holland.

The Thunderbolts improved to 15-2 on the season.

Andrew head coach Bobby Matz was impressed with the way his team came together.

"The unselfishness of our team and the hustle … really stood out tonight," he said.  "I like to see that the girls really buy into the team concept. They play super hard and they play super together."

Karopulus led the Thunderbolts with 18 points and added three rebounds, while Botich posted 14 points and three rebounds.

As good as the Thunderbolts’ offense was, Matz said the defense deserved recognition, too.

"The team defense really stood out," he said. "The whole team did, but if I had to pick just one player, Tiana did. She had a lot of rebounds and points."

Matz said the Thunderbolts have already begun their preparations for Wednesday night's matchup against Lincoln-Way West.

"(Our preparations) started on the bus ride here," he said. "We've just been analyzing what happened the last time we played Lincoln-Way West—we lost by four—what worked and what didn't work. Hopefully we'll have a really good game plan to give us the best chance to win."