Leah Spychala, Crystal Lake Central down Hampshire

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake Central senior Leah Spychala was under the weather Thursday and missed school, but felt better by Friday and even better for warmups.

The well-rested, 6-foot-1 forward gave Hampshire fits from the inside and outside, and it all added up to a big night in a 51-38 Fox Valley Conference win at Central Fieldhouse.

“Even when I was warming up, I was like, ‘I feel good. It’s going to be a good day,‘ ” said Spychala, who tallied a game-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, along with two steals, two blocks, three assists and eight rebounds. “I had a whole extra day to rest, so it all kind of worked out.

“Hadley (Ferrero) gave me so many good passes. It was all of them looking for me. (Hampshire) was worried about our shooters on the outside. It was a team effort, it wasn’t anything I did.”

Spychala tossed in the first two baskets for Central and never looked back. She had 11 points by half, with the Tigers (18-8, 10-5 FVC) leading 26-15. Central outscored the Whip-Purs 16-2 in the second quarter, thanks to its 1-3-1 zone defense.

“Our goal defensively was to stop dribble penetration and make them kick out to shooters and make sure we’re closing out, no wide-open 3s,” Spychala said. “I feel like we did a really good job of that. We were just all working together and moving together so well.”

Central entered the week with 10 straight wins before losing to Huntley (the FVC leader) on Monday and Cary-Grove (the FVC second-place team) on Wednesday.

Friday’s game was a battle of third-place teams in the FVC.

“Obviously you’ve got Huntley, the juggernaut, and Cary-Grove, the two top teams in our conference,” Tigers coach Joe Capalbo said. “The goal with those games was to compete and see what we can do. We set some goals earlier this week, and winning third place for conference was one of them.

“We play a 1-3-1 zone, and when the girls get out there and fly around and compete in it, it’s hard for anybody to score. We focused on contesting shooters, pressuring across half court and just flying around.”

After shooting 6 of 9 from the field in the first quarter, Hampshire (13-14, 9-6) was held to only 1 of 12 in the second and third quarters combined.

Hampshire coach Eric Samuelson came away impressed with Central’s defense.

“I told [Capalbo] afterward, I don’t love playing against it, but I love how hard they play defense,” Samuelson said. “They shoot gaps, they keep their hands high, they’re always active.”

Ferrero had 11 points, four steals and five assists for Central, Katelyn Hallum (two 3-pointers) ended with eight points, Sammi Pottorff had six points, and Makenna Grams (two steals, two assists) added four points off the bench.

Ferrero is playing varsity basketball for the first time after focusing on track last year.

“All of the girls that were coming back to play basketball and the new coaching staff, I was really excited to give it a try again,” Ferrero said. “I’ve had such a fun year because of all of the people who have surrounded me.”

Hampshire was led by junior Mikala Amegasse with 11 points and senior Chloe Van Horn (eight rebounds) with 10. Jiselle Lopez and Roni Dumoulin both finished with six points.

Amegasse held Central’s top scorer, Ruby Macke, to only two points. Last week against Prairie Ridge, the junior scored a career-high 43 points.

“I was super proud of Mikala,” Samuelson said. “She came in and goes, ‘Can I have Ruby?’ And that’s why she wanted her. She took it as a personal challenge and showed what she can do.”