Unlikely star shoots Rosary past Aurora Central
Ever since Rosary lost Megan Conlin to an ACL injury in the ninth game of the season, the Royals have been searching for a way to fill their leading scorer and rebounder’s shoes.
Enter freshman Danielle Goering.
The Batavia resident didn’t find out she was being called up to varsity until Wednesday night. On Thursday night, Goering found herself on the court in the fourth quarter of a heated game with rival Aurora Central Catholic.
Goering’s free throw with 3:09 left tied the game at 38, then she made a pair at the line 20 seconds later to break the tie and give the Royals the lead for good. With Rosary milking the clock, Goering assisted Taylor Drozdowski for an easy lay-in with a 1:10 remaining, and she added one more free throw as Rosary pulled away to a 47-40 victory in her varsity debut.
“I was like, ‘Danielle, this is your first varsity game, you have to score, you have to get these points in,’” Goering said of her thoughts at the line in the pressure situation. “At first it was really scary but when I went on the floor it got a lot easier and I felt like, I don’t know, it just felt really good and everyone is really encouraging so that helped a lot.”
The 4 points Goering contributed down the stretch were a bonus for Rosary coach Jessie Wilcox, who brought Goering up to help in other areas.
“She’s not a scorer, that’s not her specialty. When she came up I said, ‘Be a distributor on offense, get it done on the defensive end,” Wilcox said.
“We’ve been trying to refill her (Conlin) ever since. Yesterday we practiced with the sophomores and we saw a lot of good energy coming from her (Goering) especially on the defensive end. We brought her up. She hasn’t even practiced with us. Didn’t know what to expect. Some girls are game players and some are not. That’s a game player. She might not be the most skilled basketball player ever but she gives 110 percent. And she’s not afraid of anybody. Down the stretch she really helped us out. We told her, ‘Welcome to varsity.’”
The final margin was the biggest lead of the second half for Rosary (7-9, 2-2 in the Suburban Christian Blue), which trailed 28-24 midway through the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Gabi Alfaro.
Quincy Kellett drained a corner 3-pointer to tie the game at 30, then hit a pullup jumper for a 32-30 lead with 8 seconds left in the quarter. ACC hurried the other way and Kalie Soris dished to Alex Horton for a baseline jumper that again tied the game at 32 heading to the fourth quarter.
Aurora Central Catholic (8-7, 2-2) led 34-32, 36-34, 37-36 and 38-37 in the fourth quarter, yet couldn’t build on the lead making just 2 of 7 free throws. That finished a dreadful 4-of-17 night at the line, one game after the Chargers had made 13 of 16.
“They closed it out and we didn’t,” Aurora Central coach Mark Fitzgerald said. “You can’t shoot 4 for 17 free throws and win. They made their free throws and we didn’t. That was the difference tonight.”
The Royals jumped to a 10-0 lead to start the game and led 14-3 after one quarter. The Chargers settled down in the second quarter and pulled within 23-20 at halftime on a perfect out of bounds play with .8 seconds remaining when Jordyn Sundberg assisted Horton underneath for a basket.
Horton came off the bench to lead the Chargers with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Soris added 9 points.
Kellett, Emily Bakala and Rachel Choice played all 32 minutes for the Royals. Kellett led all scorers with 17 points and had 5 steals, Choice added 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Drozdowski paced Rosary’s 49-28 rebounding advantage with 11 boards plus 13 points.
“What we’ve been stressing this whole half of the year is defense,” Wilcox said. “Our defense has to get better. That’s something we pride ourselves in as a program and they pulled it off. Defense wins games and that proved it right there.”