Kahok Girls Hoop Squad Gets Back on Track
By Mark Jurgena, Reporter
Saturday afternoon the Collinsville girls basketball team picked up a 45-40 win at Triad to raise their season record to 6-5.
Kristyn Mitchell and Caite Knutson led the way on the scoreboard making 33 of the Kahoks 45 points.
“They complement each other really well. Caite has had to figure out how to get to the high post area and dive. She’s also figured out that she gets to the high post and Kristyn goes to the low post they’ve got a little high-low game going and they’ve just gotten familiar with each other and they look for each other and see each other well,” said coach Lori Billy.
Knutson shot 64 percent from two point range on 7-11 shooting while Mitchell made 9-13 from the free throw line.
“She (Mitchell) settled herself down and hit some big free throws when we needed some shots to go down. I was pleased with her effort from the line,” Billy said.
Mitchell and Astacia Bush led CHS with seven rebounds each, Mitchell piled up two blocks.
Faith Liljegren had six assists and seven steals.
The Kahoks traveled to Alton on December 19th and snapped their five game losing streak with a 65-37 win.
“Alton is always very athletic and capable of getting up and down the floor with you. We just kind of went in with the mindset that we had to push the ball, get the ball inside as much as we could. I just feel that it was a solid team effort. I felt like we came together and played some of our best basketball,” said Billy.
CHS had two runs in the 1st quarter which culminated in a 15 foot jumper by Liljegren to take a 19-8 lead.
The Kahoks went on a 9-0 tear early in the first.
Mitchell had an old fashioned three point play to take a 3-2 lead. She followed that with a defensive board which led to Riley Doyle finding Knutson for two. A Mitchell deflection and Liljegren steal led to another Knutson bucket.
Finally, Mitchell to Knutson made it 9-2.
At the end of the quarter CHS went on an 8-2 run.
It began when Knutson pinned the Alton defender on a ball reversal and Liljegren whipped her a pass from the wing for a layup.
After Liljegren scored again, Mitchell came up with a steal and a layup. Finally, Liljegren drained her jumper at the buzzer.
The run was extended in the 2nd quarter when freshman Jenna Scheller hit a layup, Knutson hit a bucket, and another pair of freshmen, Megan Janson and Jordan Gary, teamed up for a layup to make it 25-8 after the 14-2 run was done.
Mitchell took over the 3rd quarter by scoring 13 points.
With CHS up 35-18 to start the 3rd, Liljegren found Mitchell twice down low for layups. Mitchell scored the next four points as well. After three points by Liljegren and a two by Knutson, Mitchell finished out the quarter with five more points.
