Jaclyn Bieniewicz of Bishop Foley dribbles up the floor in a game on Friday against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest. Journal Register News Service/Liz Carnegie

Colleen Szakacs of Bishop Foley keeps a close guard on Abbey Looker of Lutheran Northwest. Journal Register News Service/Liz Carnegie

MADISON HEIGHTS -- The Madison Heights Bishop Foley Ventures put plenty of points on the board in their 52-28 victory over Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest Friday night. But it was the Ventures’ superior rebounding that enabled them to pull to a 20-point lead in the second quarter and just keep capitalizing on the momentum.

“Before we even took the floor I told the kids you are going to dictate the game by how you play defense,” said Ventures coach Dave Joseph. “I told them to be aggressive and go after it; our offense is going to come.”
The Ventures’ aggressive style of play paid off. Bishop Foley forced back-to-back turnovers in the first quarter and that just served to spark the Ventures players even more. They never trailed in the game.

“Our coach told us at practice, even if we are not good at trapping, just put pressure on them to cause turnovers,” said senior guard Jaclyn Bieniewicz. “We really worked on that in practice as well as boxing out and grabbing the ball.”
Joseph is a firm believer in the philosophy that great defense drives the offense.

“We were able to capitalize on turnovers and I think that goes back to our defense because when we force turnovers, we know what we want to do with the ball offensively,” said Joseph.

Lutheran Northwest had chances in the second half but just couldn’t manage to reap any benefit for their efforts. Bieniewicz led the Ventures with 18 points; senior forward Colleen Szakacs notched 15. For Lutheran Northwest, Kim Lepor and Abby Looker each had six.

“We are an aggressive team and the kids are a little hungry,” said Joseph. “We are very aggressive going to the basket and we can shoot the three but everything starts with defense.”
Joseph pulled his starters for most of the second half and let the players who came off the bench prove their mettle. They didn’t miss a beat and despite the fact that Lutheran Northwest was stronger in the second half, the Ventures did not allow Northwest to creep back into the game.

“We are fortunate to have strong starters and strong people off the bench,” said Bieniewicz. “They really stepped up tonight.”
Joseph credited seniors Szakacs, Bieniewicz, Megan Van Fleteren and Erin Mullen with setting the right example for the players who come off the bench.

“We have had some good success in girls’ sports and they want to keep that going with basketball,” said Joseph. “I think they are taking pride in the way the starters play and they want to keep that team pride going and play the same way.”
Despite being out scored, Coach Mike Murphy was pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

“I have three guards who can shoot and they were just not on in the first half,” said Murphy. “We live and die by the three point shot. But I was worried about our rebounding after the first game when we got out-rebounded by 14. Tonight we did a better job with that but we just turned the ball over too many times and they went to the line more than we did too. Our press didn’t work very well either.”
Murphy considers Bieniewicz one of the best shooting guards he has ever seen so he and his team expected a tough game. With only six players with previous varsity experience, Murphy knows some his players are still learning and getting comfortable with playing at the varsity level.

“When you come up against a good team like this in the second game of the season, you’re going to seem a little rusty,” said Murphy. “But overall I’m not displeased. “
Bishop Foley is 2-0; Lutheran Northwest is 1-1.