Walker, St. Francis hold off Conant in season opener
Returning senior standouts Antwainette Walker and Jorie Wachal rose to the occasion Monday.
Add nervous jitters and energy of a girls basketball season opener - and 10 lead changes in the final five minutes - and just about everything happened before St. Francis and Walker outlasted Conant 60-57 in the first round of the sixth annual York Thanksgiving Tournament.
"I thought it was a great game," St. Francis junior Shelby Winkelman said. "I wanted a more intense (first) game. I didn't want a laid-back game, so I was excited. I think we all picked each other up to come back in the fourth."
Walker had 12 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter, including a great drive off an inbounds pass to put the Spartans ahead for good at 59-57 with 19.3 seconds left. Walker also had 11 rebounds and 3 steals.
"She knows when she needs to turn that switch on," St. Francis coach Melissa Taylor said. "Antwainette is a diamond in the rough. She is incredible when it comes to seeing the court and reading her opportunities on offense and defense."
Wachal finished with 34 points - 15 in the fourth quarter to help the Cougars recover from deficits of 38-25 and 43-35 after three quarters.
"Once the team's down, I know I've got to pick up something," said Wachal, who had five 30-point games as a junior. "It was a good eye-opener for us to see what we could do. It was a good first game. We got down and we just stayed consistent. We didn't get worried. We just kept playing hard and fought back."
All five times in the fourth quarter that the Cougars went in front, the Spartans regained the lead on the next possession.
Walker had a three-point play to put St. Francis ahead 56-55 with 47.1 seconds left. Wachal answered with free throws to give the Cougars a 1-point advantage with 27.3 seconds to go.
After a St. Francis timeout Walker took the inbounds pass in front of her bench from Christine Fasana and powerfully attacked the left of the lane to score and draw the foul.
"We constantly keep running that play. (Taylor) wrote it on the bench and we got it right," Walker said. "Towards the half we kicked up the energy. Our bench was encouraging us. Even though they came back on us after that little double-digit lead, I feel like after that huddle, we came back and kind of killed it."
Walker missed that free throw, but Winkelman put back the rebound for a 3-point lead. Wachal's potential game-tying 3-pointer was blocked by the Spartans' Madison Wisted, and Walker got the rebound and was fouled with 2.8 seconds. After a missed 1-and-1 free-throw attempt, Winkelman created a rebound scramble that ran out the clock.
The Spartans have several returnees from last year's 21-11 Class 3A sectional finalist but were without injured seniors Mia Mazza and Molly McCarthy, who probably will miss the tournament.
Winkelman and senior Maggie Henseler, both improved inside players, had 9 and 8 points, respectively, as part of a 10-player rotation used by Taylor.
"Unfortunately with our team, we have an inconsistent habit of playing up and down. But once we get rolling, we feed off of defense and steals," Taylor said.
Junior Ania Baker had 9 points and 13 rebounds for Conant, which returns four starters from last season's 10-19 team.
Wachal added 7 rebounds and 4 steals and made 17 of 19 free throws to lead Conant's 30-for-40 effort compared with St. Francis' 6 of 14. After being fouled trying a 3, Wachal was 3 for 3 on the free-throw line for Conant's first fourth-quarter lead at 48-47.
"She'll always be a player for us. She just plays so hard," Conant coach Deirdre Naughton said. "For the first game, after missed layups and all of that, they never stopped and I was proud of them for that. Looking back on it, being a little bit more patient on offense would have helped us stop that tempo. Both of us were really going up and down the floor."