Bartlett fends off Geneva's comeback

A matchup of top 10 teams lived up to its billing Tuesday in front of a big crowd at Geneva while also living up to the high standards this developing rivalry has set.

Lisa Palmer's basket early in the fourth quarter gave Bartlett the lead it never let go in a 54-52 victory, an outcome up in the air until a pair of Geneva misses in the final seconds.

“There is a lot of emotion in this game,” Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. “A lot of players know each other, good teams. It's a grueling game emotionally and it's a grueling game physically as you can see.”

Bartlett (15-1) bounced back from its only loss of the season in its previous game against Fenwick while Geneva (11-4) wasn't quite able to complete the same second-half comeback as it did a year ago against the Hawks.

“We kept our composure,” Bartlett senior Jacki Gulczynski said. “They had a fantastic press and double-teamed well.”

The No. 8 Vikings won this matchup 67-61 a year ago, erasing a 15-point deficit. They found themselves down 30-21 to No. 3 Bartlett early in the second half before turning up their full-court pressure to get back in the game.

Geneva senior Kat Yelle scored 10 points in the third quarter and had 4 steals. The Hawks turned it over 10 times in the quarter, including three in a furious final 56 seconds that saw Geneva blitz Bartlett with an 8-0 run — all by Yelle — to take a 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We turn it on and off,” Yelle said. “We do that for a good three minutes but then we take a break. We just can't take breaks. What causes us to do it (rally) is our heart, We really want to win and we get steals and stuff but we just take breaks and that's our downfall.”

Yet another steal and layup by Yelle gave Geneva its final lead 43-42. Palmer's basket that put Bartlett ahead to stay 44-43 was one of several the Hawks got when they were finally able to break Geneva's press and find an open player under the basket.

Bartlett won despite 25 turnovers that included 14 Geneva steals (6 by Yelle). The Hawks made the Vikings pay with high-percentage shots, hitting 21 of their 42 attempts, while Geneva struggled to 20 of 62.

“This particular situation we left our guards high and dry sometimes and they had nobody to pass it to,” Sarna said. “It (the press) got them back into the game but ultimately we solved it and got some easy layups off it.”

While Geneva was down nearly the entire fourth quarter, the Vikings had 8 possessions to tie or take the lead. The Vikings twice missed free throws that could have tied the game by their two best players, Yelle and junior Ashley Santos.

Santos, who played her freshman year at Bartlett, missed the second of two free throws with 45.3 seconds left that would have tied the game at 53.

Geneva forced a travel with 20 seconds left, and Santos drove and nearly converted with her left hand near the basket. The ball bounced off and was tipped out of bounds by Bartlett with 10 seconds to go. Yelle got the ball, tried to penetrate and passed out to Katelyn Allen whose 3-pointer bounced off the rim.

Kristin Conniff, who missed much of the fourth quarter with a hip injury after a hard fall, grabbed the rebound with 1.8 seconds left and hit a free throw for the final margin. She missed the second attempt but Geneva couldn't control the rebound for a final shot.

“We were looking for a layup or get fouled,” Yelle said of their last possession. “Their defense stopped us. It's a really big rivalry, and I give them credit for winning because they stopped us and played great defense.”

Conniff and Gulczynski both scored 11 points for the balanced Hawks who also got 9 each by Janessa Baker and Christina Carlson. Bartlett led 26-21 at halftime.

“It's a very emotional game and our team had to fight through adversity but we fought through that and stuck together,” Gulczynski said.

Santos led both teams with 18 points and Yelle scored 17. Brooke Binette gave Geneva a lift with 10 rebounds off the bench as the Vikings stayed within 38-34 against the taller Hawks on the boards. Gulczynski led both teams with 15 rebounds.

“I'd like to have a few possessions back in the first or second quarter,” Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. “We turned the ball over or gave up an easy basket. I was really happy with the effort. Give them credit, they are a great team and hit some shots when they needed.”

Nolan was back in the lead role on the Vikings bench after assistant Tim Pease filled in the first half of the season. Recovering from cancer, Nolan added a few more classes to her teaching load when school resumed this week.

“It was great to be back,” Nolan said. “I'm tired now but doing good. It feels really good to try to get back to somewhat of a normal life.”