El Modena defeats Villa Park 62-49

The El Modena girls’ varsity basketball team achieved their first league victory on Jan. 20 against Villa Park. They battled their way to a 62-49 win and the Vanguards reached a 12-9 record.

“What led us to the victory was focus. We knew this was our time. Our time to show everyone how far we have come as a team,” said leading scorer Julia MacLaren.

MacLaren led El Mo with 23 points, Lexi Enriquez has 16, and Mikayla White added 13 points to the overall score. The Vanguards had 24 offensive and 23 defensive rebounds for a total of 47. El Mo had ten assists, seven of which were by Andrea Madrid.

“We started out much stronger. We passed and moved the ball better as a team,” says Hannah Marquez, who led her team in steals.

During the first quarter, the Vanguards outscored the Spartans 22-9, with help from White’s two three-pointers. In the second quarter, MacLaren scored eight of the eleven points and at halftime, the score was 33-21.

Villa Park stepped up in the third quarter, but El Mo never lost stride, and continued with an eleven point lead. Two Spartans, Alexis Smith and Lizzie Salmond, fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter. Enriquez and White closed the game with five points each.

“We played up-tempo, which kept us in the lead the whole time,” said leading scorer, White. That commanding lead made El Modena unstoppable, leading them to an unforgettable victory against their long time rival.

—Hailey Salsman