Bella Dalessandro and Carolyn Bencko combined for 15 steals to lead Chagrin Falls to a 45-28 Chagrin Valley Conference win over visiting Geneva on Wednesday.
The Tigers, who improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the CVC Chagrin Division, focused on shutting down Geneva post Jordan Vencill and benefitted from the free balls forced by their pressure defense.
“We pressured a lot in the full court to force turnovers,” Chagrin Falls coach Brittany Anderson said. “We wanted to make sure that we applied as much pressure as possible to try to keep the ball out of their posts’ hands. Vencill still had a good game, but our pressure allowed us to contain her a little more. Their half-court defense was so disciplined, so we had to turn our defense into our offense.”
Dalessandro finished with a team-high 15 points and eight steals. Bencko added 13 points and seven steals in the win.
Julia Santamaria pitched in with eight points, Lily Karyo added six, Katie Kwasny finished with two and Lydia Thombs contributed with one point.
“Lily Karyo was the spark that got us going,” Anderson said. “She made some plays off the ball that helped us start with intensity then others took over in the second quarter. Bella was huge for us on defense. She not only had eight steals but also forced Geneva into four other turnovers. Katie Kwasny, Lydia Thombs and Julia Santamaria all worked hard inside to keep their posts in check.”
Vencill led Geneva with nine points.
The Tigers host Beachwood on Saturday then will focus their attention on final exams before returning to action on Dec. 22 at Woodridge.
“We’d like to get another conference win going into finals and winter break,” Anderson said. “We’re starting to come together as a team. We have a solid rotation and everyone has had different opportunities to contribute. We’d like it to be a little more fluid, so we have some rotations and communication that we need to work out. I’m very pleased because the effort is there every day and we’re having fun with it. We’re moving in the right direction; just have one more to take care of going into nonconference games over break.”
Chagrin Falls 45, Geneva 28
Geneva (1-4, 0-3 CVC): Vencill 9, Jamison 6, Wilms 5, Harold 5, Cribbs 3, Francis 2
Chagrin Falls (4-2, 2-1 CVC): Dalessandro 15, Bencko 13, Santamaria 8, Karyo 6, Kwasny 2, Thombs 1
Geneva 10 5 3 10 — 28
Chagrin Falls 10 16 6 13 — 45
Free throws: Geneva 8 of 12, Chagrin Falls 14 of 22; 3-pointers: Geneva 4 (Jamison 2, Harold 1, Cribbs 1), Chagrin Falls 3 (Bencko 2, Dalessandro 1); Rebounds: Chagrin Falls 13 (Santamaria 4, Kwasny 4); Assists: Chagrin Falls 7 (Dalessandro 2, Bencko 2, Santamaria 2)
