Cristaldi's Career High Helps Lift Hilltoppers to Bounce-Back Victory

PLAINFIELD–Despite being held scoreless in the first quarter of play, Summit guard Emily Cristaldi scored a career-high 31 points in the Hilltoppers' Thursday night win over the Plainfield Cardinals, 71-61.

Plainfield guard Chanel Johnson had an equally impressive game, scoring 39 of the Cardinals' 61 points. Cristaldi and Johnson guarded each other for most of the night–a matchup that is all too familiar.

"Chanel is really good," Summit's Emily Cristaldi said. "I play against her in AAU. It's hard to stop her when she gets going."

It's hard to stop Cristaldi when she gets going, too.  Beginning in the second quarter, both players began to heat up, and neither cooled off for the rest of the night.

"You couldn't stop either of them," Summit head coach Brian Erickson said. "It's one of the best offensive matchups I've seen."

The Hilltoppers' offense looked much more aggressive on Thursday night than in their previous game at Roselle Catholic, their first loss of the season.

"The one thing we really worked on yesterday in practice was communicating and moving without the ball, with a purpose," Erickson said. "We learned a lot from Tuesday night, and we made sure to come out tonight and do what we needed to do offensively."

Though Cristaldi knocked down 31 points, the Hilltoppers had balanced scoring throughout the game. In the opening quarter, point guard Kate Martino hit a pair of short jumpshots and two freethrows, and Cassie Hall and Nicole Johnson each had a pair of layups. Senior Michelle Burian grabbed an offensive rebound and hit the put-back as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter. The Hilltoppers led 16-12 after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Cristaldi began to make her mark, scoring eight points in eight minutes. Plainfield's Johnson kept the Cardinals alive with 12 second quarter points. At halftime, the game was tied 31-31.

Summit opened the third quarter with a full-court man-to-man press that threw the Cardinals off their game. Hilltopper Kelly Osmulski had a pair of steals and two layups, and Nicole Johnson hit a short jumper off of a Cristaldi assist. Cristaldi's 15 third quarter points, including three three-pointers, helped the Hilltoppers get their largest lead of the game–11 points–with 2:45 remaining in the third.

"We came out and made a run in the third, and that really helped us hold them off late in the game," Erickson said.

Much of the fourth quarter was played from the foul line, as both teams got into foul trouble as the game progressed. Despite Johnson's 16 fourth quarter points, the Cardinals couldn't hold off the Hilltoppers. The final score was Summit 71, Plainfield 61.

"Thirty-one points is a career high, and it feels good, but I'm just glad we won," Cristaldi said.

Several other Hilltoppers contributed to the victory, including Kate Martino with 12 points and 8 assists, Cassie Hall with 9 points and 13 rebounds, Nicole Johnson with 8 points and 3 assists, and Kelly Osmulski with 7 points and 5 rebounds.

"Tonight we put together four solid quarters," Erickson said. "This is a big win for us and it keeps us where we want to be in the league."

Summit, now 9-1, will face Jonathan Dayton High School this Saturday night in the third-annual Hoops for Hope night. The JV game begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7. All proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and the Adrienne Reid Memorial Fund.