St. Francis grabs sentimental victory from Wheaton Academy

It's easy to let Antwainette Walker and the St. Francis girls basketball team off the hook for a sluggish start.

Not many high school teams have experienced what they were going through before their matchup with Wheaton Academy.

"I know a lot of us girls were talking about it, just being a little nervous," Walker said.

Sure, it was a rivalry game. Sure, there was a near-capacity crowd.

But what really tensed up the Spartans was the fact it was coach Melissa Taylor's last home game before she moves to Phoenix for a career change.

"It was pretty exciting, also sad, knowing it was her last game," Walker said.

The Spartans made sure to quickly bury their emotions and took control in the third quarter for a 46-30 win.

"It was kind of a weird feeling, knowing it was the last home game with her," Spartans senior Christine Fasana said. "It was, like, surreal. You can't even imagine what it's like when she's not there anymore."

But for Taylor, it was just another game.

Heck, she didn't even put two and two together. Taylor had no idea it was her last game at Spyglass Gym until the sophomore coach handed her a bouquet of flowers, a card and a small gift.

"Hanika, our sophomore coach, came to me and said, 'So this is your last home game, right?' And I was like 'Oh, yeah, this is my last home game,'" Taylor said with a laugh. "I don't think of it that way."

It was that even keel that sparked St. Francis (4-6) after a sluggish first half.

The Spartans held an 18-15 lead at halftime but struggled from the floor, going 5 of 24 from the floor.

"We tried to play like it was just another game," Fasana said. "But we started off kind of rough."

That gave Wheaton Academy (5-8) some life; Imani Hillmer made a putback that made it an 18-17 game with 6 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

"They came out with intensity," Wheaton Academy coach Erin Carwell said.

That's when Taylor's levelheadedness sparked the Spartans. St. Francis rattled off a 15-2 run and Wheaton Academy never got closer.

"Once coaches fired us up and got on our butts, obviously we won," said Walker, who finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Wheaton Academy had been battling some illness and that caught up with it in the third quarter. Wheaton Academy committed 9 turnovers and was 3-16 from the field.

"A lot of us have been sick and we have finals next week, a lot of us are tired and stressed out," senior Rachel Bermudez said. "Today we really could've stepped it up and played a little bit better. We just disappointed ourselves today.

In the first half the Warriors struggled to assert themselves, often playing at the tempo St. Francis dictated.

"We were playing at their pace; that's been a struggle for us all season," Carwell said. "That's what we talked about at halftime, playing at our pace."

St. Francis didn't allow that, and grabbed a victory in Taylor's final home game.

Taylor will coach at the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic before moving to Phoenix. Assistant coach Sandy Decraene will take over as coach after that.

"We'll be in contact on the daily," Taylor said. "Just going through everything and how they're doing. I'm pretty close with them and reaching out on our own as well. I hope to come back and see how they progress for the rest of their season and seasons to come. This is definitely a home away from home for me."