The first Monday night in January must mean Joliet Catholic Academy Angels' Monday night hoops.

The Angels (12-7) first opponent of 2020, was Ottawa Township High School.

For the first 22 minutes, the Lady Pirates (9-8) and the Angels went back and fourth until JCA freshman Jasmine Brown (13 points, six rebounds, five steals) scored to put the Angels up 27-26 with 1:30 to go in the third quarter.

Brown's fourth steal of the quarter and pass to senior Mia Bertino for two, gave the Angels a 29-26 lead after three quarters. With 7:26 in the game, Bertino (8 points, four rebounds, four steals) buried her second long-range bomb to give the Angels a 32-26 lead. Seconds later, Angel freshman Alina Schlageter tossed a three-pointer in from downtown Shorewood and the game was over.

The Lady Pirates, did not score a point in the fourth quarter and be shut out over the last 10 minutes of the game by the Angels' defense and JCA won 39-26.

"We were really playing poorly and I did not want us to lose," Brown said, "We all really picked up our game on defense,which helped us win this game, going away. [We have] 12 wins on the season already. I love being a part of this team."

"Our shots were not falling again, so as we always do, we made up for our lack of shooting ability, with our defense," Bertino said. " I kept shooting and I was very happy to hit the big three-pointer, at the start of the fourth quarter."

The Angels jumped out to a 13-5 lead after one quarter before scoring just two points in the second quarter. Ottawa grabbed a 17-15 lead at the halftime break. Brown and the always steady senior guard Jenna Hernandez led the Angels with six points at halftime.

"We were playing poorly in the second quarter," Hernandez (nine points, four rebounds, four steals) said. "We couldn't make a basket. Jazz (Brown) and I really picked it up on the defensive end to start the third quarter to rally us to this huge team win."

Junior Emma Jay off the bench had two buckets and three rebounds for the victorious Angels. Charlie Kinsella, did not score but hauled down four rebounds and Kiana Smith scored two points and had three rebounds for JCA.

"Defense," Joliet Catholic Academy head coach Jim O'Brien said. "We shut out a very-well coached Ottawa team for the last 10 minutes of the game. Jenna and Mia again provided us with their usual stellar senior leadership. Again, what else can you say about Jasmine.

"We are 12-7 for the season.We haven't had this much success in a season around here since the 2013-14

season. We are far from done. I am so happy for all the girls to experience success. They all work so hard and deserve it."

Illinois Central 8

Lisle 54 Reed-Custer 49

The Lions (16-3, 6-0) held off second-place Reed Custer (10-8, 4-2) in a nip-and tuck IC8 battle in Lisle on Monday night.

Peotone (16-4, 5-1) won over Streator 48-32 tonight. With the win the Blue Devils move into second-place and will invade Lisle next Monday night for IC-8 supremacy.