Basketball Recap: Illiana Christian Drops Highest Score of Season Against Hammond Bishop Noll

Vikings

Team Score

01/13/25 @ Hammond Bishop Noll	76
12/03/24 vs Heritage Christian	59
12/09/24 vs River Forest	55
12/14/24 vs Calumet New Tech	53
12/11/24 vs Hobart	53

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Illiana Christian). They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Hammond Bishop Noll Warriors on Monday, sneaking past 76-74. The Vikings have seen this before: they got the W the last time they saw the Warriors, too.

Illiana Christian's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Abbie Ritzema, who went 11 of 19 on her way to 29 points. Those 29 points gave Ritzema a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Kennedy Voss, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards.

Illiana Christian smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 15 consecutive contests.

Hammond Bishop Noll lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Jaiden Hall, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds. Ecrin Mart was another key player, going 13 for 30 en route to 27 points and five boards.

Illiana Christian has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-7 record this season. As for Hammond Bishop Noll, their loss was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 3-12.

Illiana Christian didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 42-32 defeat against Kankakee Valley on the 14th. Hammond Bishop Noll has also already played their next contest (against East Chicago Central), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.