Who is Rockford's best small-school girls basketball team? Two heavyweights square off

Orangeville’s rise to girls basketball prominence has revolved around defense. Offense, though, was often lacking.

Not this year. The emergence of sophomore guard Nadalee Doyle as a third scoring threat has made it much easier to get the ball inside to 6-foot-3 senior Tulsa recruit Whitney Sullivan.

“We just keep shooting to open up the defense,” Doyle said after Tuesday’s 53-34 win at Freeport Aquin in a matchup of what may be two of the top five teams in Class 1A. “Once they start coming out on us, we know Whitney has to be open. Whenever it’s 1-on-1, we know to get Whitney the ball and she can do what she does.”

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Sullivan dominated with 27 points and 15 rebounds, but the true star was Orangeville’s defense. That may be better than ever, too. The Broncos (7-0) held previously unbeaten Aquin (now 8-1) scoreless in the third quarter, turning a narrow 24-22 lead into a 38-22 rout.

“They take away passing angles really well,” Aquin coach Josh Glawe said. “Their whole team is just really active.”

Aquin came in with wins over defending Class 2A state runner-up Byron and a River Ridge/Scales Mound team that has been state-ranked most of the last two years in 1A. With four senior starters aided by heralded freshman Paityn London — already an NCAA Division I recruit, who came in averaging 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals — some were picking the Bulldogs to dethrone Orangeville as NUIC North champs. That rubbed Sullivan the wrong way.

“Everyone thought they were going to win, that there was no point in us even coming out,” Sullivan said.

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No, not quite. Yes, Orangeville's offense can sometimes be MIA, like in last year's ugly season-ending 48-17 sectional loss to No. 1-ranked Galena. But no one is going to dismiss a team coming off back-to-back school-record seasons with 27 and 28 wins. And not with their defense. The Broncos smothered London into 3-for-16 shooting and held Aquin as a team to 12-for-57 shooting (21 percent) before pulling their starters in the final 90 seconds.

“Everyone knows what their job is and what they have to do and what they need to guard,” Sullivan said. “We know what not to let them do for each team, what their main power points are. We focus on what we call ‘herding.’ You don’t let them get their shoulder past you. You don’t let them go baseline. You don’t let them go to their dominant hand. You stop all of that.”

That involved all five Broncos’ starters. Sullivan is great at cleaning up inside, but Addy Wheeler and Kaylynn O’Haver excel at denying open 3-pointers and Doyle and Cahoon play a lot like the two star guards at Galena who have led the Pirates to back-to-back state semifinal appearances and make them the team that both Orangeville and Aquin will still have to get past.

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“Kaylynn and Wheeler do their jobs to a T,” Orangeville coach Jay Doyle said. “They get out quick on shooters, know which way to go and force everything. I don’t know if there is a better defensive guard duo around — other than the Galena girls — than Laney and Nadalee. They fly. They are so good that they make our defense what it is. Laney and Nadalee have to cover so much ground for us.”

“We always know where each other is,” Cahoon said. “We know when to cover for each other. We always have each other’s back.”

Aquin’s coach was not discouraged by the loss.

“I knew we were pretty far away from where we want to be,” Glawe said after Hanna Broge was the only Aquin player in double figures, with 12 points. “This just kind of showed what we need to work on and where we need to get to.”

Orangeville’s coach agreed.

“Neither of us is going to go anywhere,” Doyle said. “They are going to be there at the end.”

And so will Orangeville.

“This feels good, but we have to keep winning,” said Nadalee Doyle, who finished with 18 points. “Then we will see how we do.”

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Aquin's heralded freshman meets Orangeville's star center for 1st time