Kaneland makes it 7 straight

It was Kylie Modaff's turn to lead Kaneland from beyond the arc.

After Jenni Weber buried six 3-pointers in the Knights' victory over East Aurora on Thursday, Modaff came off the bench Saturday night to provide a huge spark.

The 5-foot-11 junior forward stepped back and drilled five trifectas in a row, including four in a 3-minute span, to help host Kaneland notch its seventh straight girls basketball win in a 60-37 Northern Illinois Big 12 decision over LaSalle-Peru.

"We just worked the ball around, so I got some open shots and had my feet set," Modaff said. "On the floor you can tell that we're all working together as a team and we pass the ball really great."

"We're shooting 46 percent on the year on twos and we're at right about 33 percent for threes, and in girls basketball, that's really good," said Knights coach Ernie Colombe. "That's their effort. They're buying into what we're trying to do and it's working."

Thanks to Modaff's sharp-shooting and a pair of baskets from Bailey Crimmins, Kaneland (13-1, 3-1) seized a 23-9 lead early in the second quarter.

LaSalle-Peru (9-9, 3-2) abandoned its zone defense and responded with a solid 14-4 run before Vanessa Gould closed out the half with consecutive baskets to push the Kaneland lead back to 31-23.

"We thought we gave them a few easy buckets, so we talked about cleaning up our own mistakes," Colombe said. "We went back to the basics and tried to keep things simple."

The Knights attacked the basket in the second half and pulled away.

Jenni Weber knocked down a 3-pointer followed by a layup, Meg Cohrs added back-to-back hoops and Jamie Martens scored on a drive for a 47-32 lead after three quarters.

Kaneland tallied the first 9 points of the fourth, capped by Modaff's final 3-pointer, before both teams emptied their benches.

"We limited them to 14 points in the second half, so that's great defensive effort," Colombe said. "We're really happy because a bunch of kids played and they all played well, especially defensively in the second half."

Modaff led all scorers with 15 points followed by Weber with 11. Camri Conley and Gould tallied 9 points each and Cohrs finished with 8. Crimmins added 7 rebounds and 4 points.

Madison Held paced the Cavaliers with 10 points while center Riley Brovelli collected 9 points and 9 rebounds.

The Knights will be looking for their eighth straight when they travel to Plano Tuesday before Friday's highly-anticipated conference road matchup with Yorkville.

Kaneland downed the Foxes 42-33 on December 23 in the championship game of the Ottawa Christmas Classic.