Tourney-tested St. Viator tops Latin
Put the St. Viator girls basketball team in a tournament game, and it's felt right at home lately.
Dating back to their final game of the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving tourney, the Lions won their seventh straight on Wednesday night when they opened the Season's End tourney with a 53-50 victory over Latin High School from Chicago's north side.
In between, the Lions won five straight tourney games in their own Snowflake Classic.
Wednesday's victory at Hersey's Carter Gymnasium would have been by a few more points had Latin junior standout Nikki Dizon not hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds.
Dizon finished with a game-high 34 points, well shy of her career-high 45 set against King earlier this season.
Dizon, who had a school-record eight 3-pointers against Lane Tech this season, connected on 6 against the Lions (10-7).
“That No. 30 (Dizon) is a pretty good player,” said Lions junior guard Katie Gavin, who struck for a team-high 21 points. “She kept driving or hitting from outside and we couldn't stop her. But we ended up with the win.”
A win also highlighted by Lauren Rooney's work on the defensive end and boards.
The Lions' 6-foot-1 junior center was credited with 23 rebounds, 9 points and 6 blocked shots.
“Lauren changed some of their drives with her blocked shots and she was just a beast on the boards,” said St. Viator coach Paul Bjerkness. “She is getting better and better defensively.”
Viator led 14-6 on Gavin's driving layup midway through the first quarter but the Romans (10-6) came back and led 30-26 at the break with Dizon scoring 20 of her points by that point.
“In terms of the competition, this was one of Nikki's best games,” said Latin coach Max Rouse of his three-year starting guard. “She came to play. We told her this tournament is a chance for people to see her. And what I was really proud of was her defensive effort. She's our leader and we need that from her.”
Viator trailed 34-33 when it went on an 13-0 run to take control.
Senior Megan Bailey's 16-footer put the Lions ahead for good at 35-34, and by Kim McAvoy's 17-footer from the baseline gave St. Viator a 3-point lead.
Gavin then split two defenders for a layup and 39-34 lead before Bailey drove for a layup to make it 41-34 heading into the final quarter.
“I missed a lot of shots, layups and free throws,” Gavin said. “But I had a lot of opportunities because of the play of my teammates.”
Gavin did make some big free throws at the end, hitting three in a row in the final 33 seconds which gave Viator its 53-44 lead before Dizon struck with her fifth and sixth 3-pointers.
“We came here to play great competition,” Rouse said. “I see discipline and toughness in St. Viator and that is the kind of team we want to be. I told our kids we were really proud of their effort, but we came here to win games.
“I know St. Viator is going through some tough times with three starters out, but they are still a good team. Being a Class 2A team here, we can only get better from this competition.”
Maggie Dougherty, Katie Calmeyn and Julia Frank also made it into the scoring column for the Lions.
“Obviously Katie Gavin stepped up huge,” Bjerkness said. “I thought Kim McAvoy did a nice job offensively. She hit big shots when we really needed them. And Maggie Dougherty did a good job on the defensive end.
“Megan Bailey also hit some big free throws at the end (she made 2 with 1:40 left for a 50-42 lead).
“Latin is a good team. They play hard and that Dizon is a good player. She had 34 points and she deserved them all. But I thought our girls came out and played hard to get the win.”