Postgame: Coach Jones (video)

The Harper College women's basketball team tallied a season-high in points but it wasn't enough in a 91-38 loss to Olive-Harvey College on Tuesday night in Palatine.  Brittany Walls (Island Lake, Ill., Palatine) and Sancha Ogden (Hanover Park, Ill., Hoffman Estates) each scored season-highs in points to spark the Hawks (0-7).
 
“From time to time, we are telling them to push the ball and get easy layups,” said head coach Nichole Jones.  “That actually helped us score more points.”
 
The Panthers (7-7) scored the first 11 points of the game in jumping out to a 25-5 lead just less than nine minutes into the game.  From there, Harper went on an 8-3 run.  Ogden's rebound and hoop plus the foul got it started before Walls knocked in a bank shot off the first of six assists from Mitshi Ishioka (Carlsbad, Calif., Carlsbad).  Following a three-pointer from Olive-Harvey's Ryan Cunningham, Ogden scored another basket and Ishioka added a finger roll to cut the deficit to 28-13.
 
Leading 45-13 at halftime, the Panthers briefly traded baskets with the Hawks.  But Walls' bucket with 16:30 left in the second half was the last time Harper scored for nearly seven minutes, as Olive-Harvey went on a 19-0 run during that time before Danielle Hutton (Arlington Heights, Ill., Palatine) finally put an end to it.
 
Sarah Eschenbaum (Lake Zurich, Ill., Lake Zurich) dropped in two baskets in a 15 second spurt started a two minute stretch in which the Hawks outscored the Panthers 8-3.  Ishioka added a jumper and Eschenbaum scored again as the guard scored eight of her ten points in the final 5:16 of the game.
 
Walls tied Eschenbaum for scoring honors with ten points.  Ogden made four of her five shots for eight points, in addition to a team-high nine rebounds.  The two low post players shot a combined 9-15 from the floor.
 
“It came down to working on low-post moves with them,” Jones said.  “We do a lot of drop steps and layups in practice.  A lot of that showed in the game.  That was a plus.”
 
Ishioka filled up the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds and six assists.  Cunningham led Olive-Harvey with 30 points and 13 rebounds while Paris Wright chipped in with 20 points and six steals.
 
The Hawks return to action on Thursday for their final home game for over a month.  Harper hosts Waubonsee Community College (5-7).  Tipoff is slated for 5:00 PM.