Wheaton Academy ousts Kaneland

The tears flowing from Wheaton Academy junior guard Allison Witt could have been tears of joy after her team scored only 30 points, but somehow advanced Monday night in the Class 3A St. Francis regional.

But these were tears of pain as Witt sported a knot the size of a baseball on her elbow, an injury she sustained from crashing to the floor often while leading her team with 15 points in a 30-27 victory over Kaneland.

The elbow worked well enough for Witt to sink four free throws in the game’s final four minutes to help the Warriors come back from a 4-point deficit to move on to Wednesday’s clash against state powerhouse Montini.

It was all the more frustrating for Kaneland to watch the game decided by free throws because the Knights had a nightmarish 6-of-26 night at the line.

“The elbow hurts, but it would be killing me if we didn’t win,” Witt said. “I hyperextended it early in the season, so whenever I hit it, it just resonates through my whole arm, like hitting the funny bone, but with a shooting pain.”

Witt sensed that free throws were going to decide the outcome because both teams were struggling, as the Warriors made only 9 of 20.

“Free throws are always the deciding factor for us,” Witt said. “Our percentage has been down, but one time we were 19-for-19, so we have to start draining them again.”

Witt got her team off to a decent start by scoring all 8 of Wheaton Academy’s first-quarter points, and when Marissa Gagliano hit a 3-pointer late in the second quarter, the Warriors took a 16-14 lead at halftime.

Neither team scored in the first four minutes of the third quarter, but Witt finally scored three points to push her team ahead 19-16 and Kaneland knotted things up at 19-19 heading into the final quarter on a basket by Tesa Alderman and a free throw by Andie Strang (7 points).

When Kaneland’s Kelly Evers (7 points) scored an inside basket and then converted two of four free throws by drawing fouls in the paint, Kaneland enjoyed 25-21 lead.

In a game in which Kaneland had 24 turnovers and Wheaton Academy had 28, the 4-point lead looked like a double-digit advantage.

“We were right there, but realistically this was our worst free-throw shooting performance of the year by far,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “In the first half, we had the jitters and I thought we would get over it, but offensively we just struggled all night.”

Kaneland had three crucial turnovers in the game’s final minutes, and missed four point-blank inside shots.

Gagliano hit two free throws to push Wheaton Academy (10-17) ahead 27-26 at the 1:41 mark. Witt was fouled while grabbing a rebound and made two free throws to give her team a 29-26 lead with 1:27 left. Kaneland had only an Emma Bradford free throw that Witt answered with her own charity toss with 13 seconds left to seal the win.

“It was pretty ugly basketball, but we found a way to make the free throws when we needed them and it was enough to give us the win,” Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell said. “Witt takes a beating, and she’s like the Energizer Bunny in that she takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

“If Kaneland makes even half of their free throws, it wouldn’t have been a game,” Mitchell added. “But we’ll take it and it keeps our season alive.”

Colombe said his team had a goal to win at least 14 games, and they fell one short by finishing 13-16 for the season, a year after winning only five games.

“It was by far our worst shooting performance from the line and the field,” Colombe said. “It was real important for us to win this game because we have a lot of young kids and winning at playoff time is important.

“We wanted it, and we wanted to play Montini, and we wanted to keep going,” Colombe said. “The seniors were outstanding and they put the time in after coming off a tough season, and made it fun for the younger kids.”