Lady Hawks finish second at Tip-Off Tournament

It was a tale of two halves for Oregon in a 55-36 loss to Rockford Lutheran in the finals of the Oregon Tip-Off Tournament.

The Lady Hawks led 20-19 at half and stretched that to 22-19 on its first possession of the third quarter on an assist from Bree Tourtillott to Devyn Absher for the basket.

That well-executed play even brought coach Kristy Eckardt and her staff to their feet cheering. However, that’s exactly the point that Lutheran took over, outscoring Oregon 36-14 the rest of the way.

“We played extremely hard and composed during the first half to have the lead going into the 3rd quarter, but then in the same way we did against Prophetstown earlier in the day, we got sloppy with the ball on offense and stopped moving and talking on defense,” Eckardt said. “And once we got behind, we started forcing things more offensively and taking more chances on defense.”

There was also the matter of Lutheran senior point guard Rachel Konieczki stepping up her play.

Konieczki, a Bowling Green recruit, started the Lady Crusader second-half rally with a length-of-the-court lay-up that wasn’t challenged. After being held to two points in the first half, Konieczki had 13 in the second half.

“In the first half, Rachel tries to get everyone involved,” Lutheran coach Joni Carlson said. “In the second half, she knows when to take over for us.”

Konieczki also got a big hand from Abby Woolacott. The 6-foot-1 freshman had eight straight points, all under the basket, in the third quarter to give Lutheran a 33-24 lead.

“This is the first varsity experience for her and she’s gotten better from the first game in the tournament to the fourth one,” Carlson said. “She’s so huge for us. Her and Rachel have great chemistry.”

In the first half, though, it was the Lady Hawks showing the best display of teamwork. With Eckardt running 10 players in and out of the lineup, Oregon looked impressive in moving the ball around and working the press.

“Our first half was outstanding,” Eckardt said. “To know that we can put together such an amazing half gives us a lot of hope for the rest of the season and being able to sustain that for a whole game.”