Clark, St. Viator get past Vernon Hills

Sophomore Myia Clark has found her way with confidence and composure this season.

So much so that St. Viator followed her lead to the third regional title in program history on Thursday.

Clark made one of her three 3-pointers in the final stages of the fourth quarter to put the Lions up for good against Vernon Hills on Thursday night. After her big 3, St. Viator (17-14) led 39-37 with 3:55 left and never again trailed.

The fifth-seeded Lions topped fourth-seeded Vernon Hills 45-39 in Class 3A regional final play at Ridgewood High School in Norridge.

"I was open, and I was confident I could knock it down," said Clark, who finished with a game-high 17 points. "I was glad it went in, because we really needed that shot. It really got our confidence up and our motivation up."

The Lions advance to a 6 p.m. sectional on Tuesday in their own Cahill Gymnasium. St. VIator will face the winner of Friday's matchup in the Woodstock North regional, either Antioch or Marian Central Catholic.

The Lions had won regional titles in 2006 and 2010 before this year's under the watch of first-year coach Jason Raymond.

"First half of the season, we were coming together as team," Raymond said. "It took a while to get our system in place."

Since the middle of December, St. Viator has put together a 14-6 record. Of the 6 losses in the that stretch, two came again highly regarded Benet Academy and Marist, and three more were last-minute decisions.

"So, we've played some really good basketball toward the end of the year here," Raymond said. "After getting the system in place and getting the girls comfortable with each other - that was the main thing. I think a lot of it is confidence. The girls have a lot of confidence with their skill level and making plays. That's the number one thing for this year, to have the confidence in themselves."

That confidence was on display as the Lions closed out the game with a 9-2 run after the Clark 3.

"That's the one area that we've improved, with our composure at the end of games," Raymond said. "We had struggled with that throughout the year. I'm proud of the girls getting better at that."

Vernon Hills (16-13) fought back from a 10-point deficit in the second quarter to trail 24-22 at the break. The Cougars were down 31-28 starting the final quarter and grabbed the lead 37-36 on a 3 from Becky Bahlmann (11 points, 5 rebounds) with 4:26 left.

"(St. Viator) made the plays," Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner said. "St. Viator was a solid team and we knew that coming in. I'm proud of my kids - they fought hard. (St. Viator) hit the shots after we took the lead and the credit goes to them. They made a couple more plays than we did."

Kayla Caudle led the Cougars with 12 points and 9 rebounds, and Katie Burrows had 9.

The Lions got 14 points from Maggie Leazer.