The stakes were high and the assignment difficult, but Naperville Central’s Mia Lakstigala was up to the challenge.
In a matchup of two of the top juniors in the Chicago area, Lakstigala scored a game-high 26 points while going against Maine West’s Alisa Fallon on Thursday.
But Fallon, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds, got the last laugh as Maine West knocked off the Redhawks 62-47 to win the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic in Carpentersville.
“She’s a great player,” Fallon said of Lakstigala, who made the all-tournament team along with teammate Lucy Schmid. “She kept me on my toes on defense.
“She had me tired at both ends of the floor, so kudos to her. But at the end of the day my team pulled it out and that’s why we got the win. We’re so deep and that’s what is going to take us deep into the playoffs.”
The 5-foot-10 Fallon knows something about that, having helped Trinity to third place in the Class 4A state tournament last year. She has a great supporting cast at Maine West, which also got 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists from guard Allison Pearson and 12 points from center Jessica Riedl.
That balance and a huge rebounding advantage fueled the Warriors (15-2), who won the tournament for the first time since 1997.
The Redhawks (14-5), who were attempting to win the championship for the first time since back-to-back titles with Candace Parker in 2003 and 2004, relied heavily on Lakstigala. Aside from Schmid, who had eight points, 11 rebounds and three assists, no other Redhawk scored more than four points.
“They’re really big,” Lakstigala said. “They’re all very aggressive so we tried to hold them on offense. But they would push the ball and get rebounds.
“They did a good job of pressuring on defense when we tried to look for our shots, so we maybe got a little intimidated by it.”
The path got easier for the Warriors when Naperville Central center Olyvia McGuire sat with foul trouble after sinking her first two shots. The 6-foot sophomore eventually fouled out along with Lakstigala and guard Maiah DeShazer.
Lakstigala’s 3-pointer gave the Redhawks a brief 26-25 lead, but Maine West closed the first half with a 6-0 run and then feasted at the foul line, finishing 20-for-26.
“I’m proud of our girls,” Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. “We played hard, but we kind of let the momentum slip away.”
Lakstigala said the Redhawks are satisfied.
“We worked really hard,” Lakstigala said. “We just tried to play as hard as we could and we’re just happy that we made it this far.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.
