'Brook rides Mercedes in rout of Joliet

Bolingbrook's Ariel Massengale (left) and Joliet's Jennifer Jorman fight for a loose ball.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Herald News)

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BOLINGBROOK -- After a bit of a slow start, the Bolingbrook High School girls basketball team quickly made up for a little lost time.

The Raiders (2-1, 1-0) turned up the pressure and rolled to a 75-21 victory over Joliet Township on Thursday night in Southwest Suburban Blue play.

"This is a young group," Bolingbrook coach Tony Smith said. "We're not quite there yet. And in each game so far we've started slow. We need to start playing hard from the time of the opening tipoff as we move further ahead into the season."

The Raiders took a 5-4 lead on basket by JT transfer Mercedes Griffin with 3:37 left in the first quarter. Then, they went on to outscore JT 6-0 to finish the quarter with an 11-4 lead.

In the second quarter, JT (2-5, 0-1) continued to struggle offensively. The Steelmen suffered through a 5-minute 40-second scoring drought. The drought began near the end of the quarter and didn't end until Dominque Carr scored on a short jumper with 6:00 left in the half.

By then, Bolingbrook's lead was 18-6.

"They're very quick and very athletic," JT coach Roger Plechaty said. "They extended their zone and we didn't handle it. That intensity is hard to imitate in practice."

The Steelmen ran into their second scoring dry spell midway through the second quarter. They went 4:51 without scoring and trailed 37-9 at halftime.

"They took us out of our comfort zone," Plechaty said. "Then, we started anticipating their pressure and hurried our shots."

Bolingbrook was led by Griffin, who enjoyed a big night against her old teammates. The 5-foot-9 junior guard scored 19 points. Six-foot sophomore Taylor Tuck added 17 points. Six-three junior center Marissa Taylor led both teams with 11 rebounds.

JT's Marissa Draper scored 7 points. UIC recruit Taylor Foulks was held scoreless -- the Raiders pressured her from end-to-end and also denied her the basketball.

"We want each member of the team to play hard all the time," Smith said. "We approach each day in practice with the idea that nobody's a starter and the five who work the hardest will be leading us off."

Smith said the Raiders have yet to find a rhythm.

"Our effort has to get better," he said. "And we have a ways to go yet."

Bolingbrook played without two starters -- Ciera Howard and Morgan Tuck. Both were injured in a Thanksgiving tournament at Parkside Junior College over the holdiday weekend. Both are expected to return at some point in the near future.

Bolingbrook won the battle on the boards 36-20 and held the upper hand in turnovers 23-10.

"After talking to the girls, I told them they can look at it one of two ways -- as a horrible defeat or as a learning experience that's going to make us work harder," Plechaty said. "And the girls picked the second option. They're committed to learning and working harder."