Wheeling falls short to Resurrection

A couple of Chicago-area girls basketball powers clashed in Chicago on Friday night when Wheeling visited Resurrection.

The Wildcats, playing just a few miles down the road from where they defeated Maine South in Tuesday's season-opener, almost pulled off their second win of the young season.

A gallant comeback from a 13-point second-half deficit fell short, however, as the Bandits earned a 50-47 triumph in the Niles North tournament.

Sophomore Janelle Cannon (game-high 18 points, 6 steals, 3 assists) hit a dramatic 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Wheeling a 47-45 lead with 1:25 left.

The Wildcats missed an inside shot with under a minute that would have extended the lead.

Instead, the Bandits (1-0) came down the floor and Deanna Ortiz (17 points), playing the final 5:45 with 4 fouls, hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to put the hosts ahead 48-47.

The Wildcats (1-1) missed two shots on their next possession and Ortiz came away with the long rebound.

The DePaul-bound senior was fouled and made 2 free throws which made it 50-47 with 10.8 seconds left.

The Wildcats then missed a 3-pointer and had a ball batted away as time expired.

"We're a good enough team that we don't need a loss to learn from," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel, whose team trailed by 10 at half and 36-23 early in the third quarter.

"But this certainly gives us more motivation to work in practice. We made some good plays at the end. We had some good looks and some good chances to win but we didn't get the basket or the calls to make things work out."

Illinois-bound Lana Rukavina added 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block for the Wildcats while Lindsey Mills had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block.

Trailing 36-23, Wheeling used a 15-1 run to grab a 38-37 lead.

"Lana helped us a lot hitting a lot of big shots ," said the 6-foot-2 Mills, an all-area volleyball player. "We knew we had to stay with it in the second half."

"I thought we could have done a better job defensively and rebounding," Cannon added.

"To give up 31 points in the first half and 21 in the second quarter is not acceptable," Wiegel said.

All-area standout Ashley Wilson saw her first minutes of the season. The 6-foot junior forward, recovering from a stress fracture in her leg, played about two minutes each quarter. She hit 2 free throws and grabbed 4 rebounds.

"We played her eight minutes, but she wants to play 30," Wiegel said. "We want to make sure it's not one step forward and a few back. We want it to only move forward. We're going to ease her back but she's champing at the bit."

Five Resurrection girls finished with three or more fouls.

"We are hacks," said Resurrection coach Kerry Durham. "The girls haven't played since February and don't know what fouls are. I think it was first-game jitters. Wheeling is a tough team but I told our girls I wasn't sure if we had gotten enough respect."

Ortiz respected Wheeling.

"We knew they'd come back," she said. "We knew they wouldn't go away and that we'd have to stay tough mentally to the end."