Stevenson thwarts Warren’s last chance
Déjà vu, Lexi Leneau?
Alex Elzinga knew.
Elzinga, a Stevenson junior and three-year varsity player, knew Leneau’s history of hitting game-winning shots in Stevenson’s gym.
So when Warren inbounded in front of its own bench with 4.2 seconds on the clock and trailing by three, Elzinga and her teammates figured the Blue Devils’ athletic, sharpshooting guard would likely be looking to tie the game up and force overtime.
“We were aware that she could shoot the 3 very well,” Elzinga said of Leneau. “What we had to do at the very end was guard her very tightly. That’s what we ended up doing. We executed well on defense on that last possession.”
Leneau inbounded the ball, but never got it back, as Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz hoped she would. The Patriots defended well and a shot at the buzzer fell short, allowing Stevenson to escape with a 35-32 win in a North Suburban Lake Division thriller Thursday night.
The Patriots prevailed despite squandering a 16-point second-half lead and committing 23 turnovers.
Stevenson (8-3, 3-1) is tied atop the NSC Lake with Lake Zurich. Warren (5-5, 3-2), Zion-Benton and two-time defending conference champ Libertyville all have 2 losses in the division. Stevenson visits Lake Zurich Saturday night.
“In this division, it’s almost like a sectional tournament every time you go out there,” Patriots coach Tom Dineen said. “There are five teams right now that are battling each other wire to wire. We can enjoy this for one day because we got a tough one Saturday against Lake Zurich.”
Leneau hit a trio of 3-pointers, accounting for all 9 of her points, in the second half. As a freshman in 2008, her buzzer-beating 3 beat Stevenson 28-25. The following season, she sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime to lift the Blue Devils past the host Patriots 50-48.
“I do remember those (games),” Elzinga said, “very well.”
Leneau’s past heroics against Stevenson didn’t necessarily lead her coach to draw up the game’s last play for her.
“Lexi has been generally our best outside shooter,” Stanczykiewicz said. “We did run the play for her, but it just didn’t work out.”
When Elzinga finished a Katie Batman pass for a layup with 2:04 left in the third quarter, Stevenson’s lead was 27-11. But a pair of 3-pointers by Leneau helped Warren pull within 29-18 going into fourth.
A three-point play by center Jessica Prince — who had missed her first 11 shots — cut the Blue Devils’ deficit to 31-30 with 2:19 to go.
Prince’s hook shot with 1:32 left gave the visitors the lead and capped a 21-4 run.
But Warren didn’t score again. Batman hit 4 of 4 free throws, and the Patriots walked off relieved winners. They committed 9 turnovers in the fourth.
“(Warren) had a really good half-court trap, and I guess our team didn’t really the handle the ball as well as we should have,” said Elzinga, who grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and scored 6 points. “But we got through it.”
Warren shot 19 percent (10 of 54). Blue Devils forward Alyssa Phillips had a game-best 10 points and 11 rebounds. Prince finished with 9 points and 8 boards.
“I was generally pretty happy with our defensive play, but we just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Stanczykiewicz said. “I’m really proud of their effort coming back, but the bottom line is, you got to make shots to win the game and we dwidn’t.”
Batman and Kari Moffat (4 assists) scored 8 points each for Stevenson. Julia Dabrowski had 6 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocked shots for the Patriots.
“I think we needed better play out of our bigs,” Stanczykiewicz said. “We had plenty of opportunities inside. I think we allowed (No.) 54 (Dabrowski) to dominant inside. We challenged her. She obviously was too much for us inside blocking shots.”
Stevenson held leads of 11-5 after one quarter and 19-8 at halftime. Dineen didn’t substitute until Dabrowski fouled out with 4:57 left in the fourth.
“I thought we played an outstanding first half at both ends of the floor,” Dineen said. “We took very good shots, and our defense was excellent. Second half, we had a couple of breakdowns and turned the ball over, and they capitalized on almost every turnover.”