Chalker takes down Heartland Christian in sectional
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SOUTHINGTON -- There's an old basketball saying that rebounding is all about effort. That's even more so when it comes to grabbing an offensive board.
And the Chalker girls basketball team showed a lot of effort early, grabbing nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter. That, along with a double-digit scoring run, powered the Wildcats to a 59-41 win over Heartland Christian in a Division VII, Northeast 3, sectional final on Saturday in Southington.
"We take a lot of pride in rebounding. We work at it, and we know that's where the game is won and lost a lot of games," Chalker head coach Rich Hudak said. "We get that advantage and we'll go from there."
The Wildcats controlled the boards from the start of the game.
Chalker (16-6) led 11-5 with 4:44 to play in the first, with six points coming off second chances.
A 13-0 run over the next three minutes ballooned Chalker's lead to 22-5, and the hosts took a 26-12 lead into the second quarter.
An 8-0 run by the Lions (8-14) cut Chalkers lead to 30-20 with three minutes to play in the half. But the Wildcats quickly regained control with three straight buckets, and a half-court heave from Abby Grimm as the buzzer sounded gave Chalker a 41-24 lead at halftime.
The Lions flirted with getting the deficit down to 10 on a couple occasions in the second half, but every time they got close, Chalker got a bucket or two to quell Heartland Christian's momentum.
With an 18-point lead, Chalker cleared its bench with 1:04 to play.
"Let our defense and our rebounding do our work for us, let that generate some of our offense. And if we can get out, we'll just play our game," Hudak said. "(Heartland Christian's) a good team. They're gonna make runs. They have great shooters, great instinctive-placed passing, so we just gotta do our thing - defense, rebounding - and that kinda helps us on our offensive end."
Heartland Christian's Sarah Reynolds led all scorers with 19 points, and Kaylin Norbo added 12.
Chalker scattered its scoring, with five players accounting for at least seven points. Katelyn Cook was the Wildcats' top scorer with 16 points, Grimm chipped in 15, Tatum Hudak and Julia Ross both had eight and Riley Ashcraft finished with seven.
"We take great pride in everyone getting a hand on the ball. We work hard on that, we work hard on our passing," Rich Hudak said. "We want to make sure everyone's involved because we want to be a well-rounded team. We want to be hard to defend and hard to guard, and we have multiple options."
Chalker advanced to the district semifinals, where it will see a familiar opponent. On Tuesday, the Wildcats will host Northeastern Athletic Conference rival Badger, who had a sectional-final bye.
The two teams split the season series this year with the home team winning both matchups. Badger (11-11) took the first meeting 37-32 on Dec. 4, and the Wildcats returned the favor by winning 55-38 on Jan. 23.
The opening tip is set for 7 p.m.
"They're a familiar foe. We played them twice this season," Rich Hudak said. "They're well-coached, they're gonna come at us, they're a hard-nosed team, they shoot the ball well. (Badger head coach Pat Carney) does a great job with them. We'll prepare, go from there and see what happens."