T-Bolts Defense Quiets High-Powered St. Ignatius

Nicole Botich shot lights out.

But the real story behind Andrew's 60-34 girls basketball victory over St. Ignatius was the play of the Thunderbolts' defense on Tuesday night.

Botich, a junior forward, made 10-of-17 shots and scored a game-high 21 points for Andrew (5-0), which remained undefeated. The T-Bolts limited St. Ignatius to 14 points in the first half.

Senior forward Alison Jeffirs led the Wolfpack (3-6) with eight points.

 "Going into the game, we knew they would be tough," Botich said. "I was just playing where I needed to be and I was getting open shots. Coach told us boxing out would win us the game, so I fought hard against their tallest players and got the rebounds."

Seniors Sarah Barracca and Lauren Mangin each scored 12 points for Andrew. The T-Bolts controlled the boards on both ends of the court, with 29 defensive rebounds and another 11 on the offensive side. They also forced 23 St. Ignatius turnovers, 13 of which came in the first half.

At the outset, it looked like the two teams would engage in a hard-fought battle. Andrew opened an eight-point lead, but the Wolfpack responded with a pair of 3-pointers to draw within 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.

In both the second  and the quarters, the T-Bolts held the Wolfpack to six ponts as they poured on the jets to pull ahead by margins of 30-14 and 47-26. In the fourth, Andrew went to its bench. The T-Bolts' reserves put up an additional 13 points and held St. Ignatius to eight to bring it to the final tally of 60-34.

Andrew's Tiana Karopulos drew the assignment of guarding Gena Lenti, St. Ignatius' best player, and held her to three points.

"(Gena Lenti) is their best player, and I put Tiana on her, and she dogged her all night," Andrew coach Bob Matz said.

"We've seen them play three times already, and we have a lot of respect for them. We knew it was going to battle, but our conditioning came through at the end. We put a lot of ball pressure on them, and the kids played hard."