Halle Douglass, seen here in earlier action this season, helped the Scouts to a first-place finish in the Lake Forest Tournament. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
It was … a basketball Picasso.
Okay, maybe that’s overstating it a bit.
But, whoa, was this ever impressive?
And rare.
In a game against Buffalo Grove on Day Two of the Lake Forest Invitational on Jan. 15, five Scouts teamed up to do something fabulous.
Off an inbounds play early in the second quarter, they went the full length of the court on four passes and zero dribbles to score two points.
“It was textbook,” said LF head coach Kyle Wilhelm. “It couldn’t have been drawn it up any better than that.”
It would’ve made James Naismith — you know, the inventor of the game — smile.
Here’s the Etch A Sketch version.
Audrey Kaus triggered the play by tossing a quick pass to Halle Douglass in the left corner.
Douglass nabbed the delivery and immediately threw it back to Kaus.
After requiring the ball, Kaus quickly fired it to Ellie Pearson at midcourt.
Pearson caught the pitch from Kaus and promptly rifled the ball to Finola Summerville in the right corner.
Summerville corralled Pearson’s pass and instantly threw a strike to a relatively unattended Grace Tirzmalis under the basket.
And Tirzmalis capped off the play by grabbing Summerville’s feed to score an easy layup.
That play was part of 15-0 run for the Scouts, who used a 24-point second quarter to rush past Buffalo Grove 62-40.
“That second quarter was the most unselfish quarter that we’ve ever played,” said Wilhelm. “The girls were making extra passes. And they were making really good reads.
“I was really impressed with their unselfishness.”
The entire tournament went well for the Scouts. They went 4-0 to improved their overall record to 17-7.
In addition to beating BG, the hosts topped Lakes 61-34 in their other game on Jan. 15.
Two days earlier, LF claimed wins over Palatine 36-20 and Deerfield 47-17.
In the opener against Palatine, the Scouts were paced by Halle Douglass (16 points, 3 assists), Olivia Douglass (7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals), Tirzmalis (7 points, 8 rebounds) and Jen Whittington (6 points, 3 rebounds).
Summerville was the leading scorer in the Deerfield game with 12 points. She also had four assists and four steals. The other stat leaders were Halle Douglass (10 points, 3 assists, 5 steals), Pearson (6 points, 8 rebounds) and Annie Aberle (5 points).
Against Buffalo Grove, Tirzmalis (18 points, 3 rebounds), Halle Douglass (16 points, 6 assists, 3 steals), Pearson (10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists), Summerville (7 points, 3 rebounds) and Kaus (6 rebounds, 4 assists) were the main contributors.
And in the win over Lakes, the Scouts were led by Halle Douglass (14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists), Tirzmalis (12 points, 3 rebounds), Lilly Trkla (12 points, 5 rebounds), Honor Thomas (11 points, 3 assists), Pearson (9 points, 4 rebounds) and Kaus (3 rebounds, 3 steals).