Warren edges NT on Boothe bucket

For the first half, it looked like Warren's girls basketball team might suffer its first loss of the 2007 season.

But Sarah Boothe sank a layup on an assist from Shana Shepherd with 10 seconds left, as the Blue Devils held on to defeat host New Trier 38-36 in the New Trier Thanksgiving girls basketball tournament in Winnetka on Friday.

Warren stayed undefeated at 4-0, but for the second year in a row had a tough time against New Trier (3-1).

"New Trier is a well-coached team and on their home court with their home crowd, they always give us a good game," Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz said. "We're still a team that is searching for its identity. We're just a humble, hard-working team and we have to do things right all the time to have a chance to have success.

"In the first half, we didn't make free throws when we had our chances and in the second half, we didn't run a very good offense."

The difference in the game were the boards, as Warren out-rebounded New Trier 36-20.

Both teams had problems shooting. Warren shot 31 percent from the floor and New Trier shot 27 percent.

New Trier did better from the foul line, making 7-of-9 shot, Warren shot only 16-of-32.

Despite shooting only 4 of 11 from the floor and sitting out some of the second quarter with 3 fouls, Boothe had her fourth double-double of the season. She led the Blue Devils with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 4 steals.

"Everybody kept their composure in the last minute," Boothe said. "Everybody played hard in the second half."

Lory Shaw also had her fourth double-double for the Blue Devils with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

"The last couple of seconds were really intense," Shaw said. "It was really nerve-racking but we pulled through and did what we had to do to win."

Shepherd chipped in 7 points, including a 3-pointer, and 5 assists. Erin Norwood grabbed 6 rebounds.

Trevians senior guard Megan Napoli led all scorers with 16 points, including three 3-pointers, while Megan Campbell added 11 points.

Napoli, sank a 3 at the third-quarter buzzer to give New Trier a 31-30 lead, but Warren outscored New Trier 8-5 in the final quarter.

"I think we approached this tournament as a learning experience," Trevians first-year coach Carrie Sowa said. "We're excited that we have done fairly well so far."

-- Irv Solomon

Stevenson 49, Hersey 45: With a pair of freshmen scoring nearly half of its 20 points in the final quarter, Stevenson posted its first win of the season Friday at the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.

Anna Morrissey, who scored a game-high 13 points, and Michelle O'Brien (7) combined for 9 of the Patriots' 20 points in the final eight minutes as they rallied from 9-point deficit with less than six minutes to play.

Stevenson took the lead for good when Morrissey sank a pair of free throws for a 44-43 lead with 1:28 left.

Senior Monica Pawlus and junior Kayla Fisher each added 2 more free throws and Claire Moller (2 assists) netted one in the final 46 seconds as the Pats pulled out a 49-45 triumph over Hersey.

"Anna Morrissey (5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) and Michelle O'Brien (4 rebounds, 3 steals) are starting to get a better feel for things," said Stevenson coach Trish Betthauser, whose team is 1-2 and 1-1 in the tourney.

"They're starting to understand the pace of a varsity basketball game. They're both very athletic and I thought this was a breakout game for both of them."

Bank shots by Emma Kuhns and Amanda Slove gave Hersey a 38-29 lead with 6:33 left but the Patriots were able to slowly cut into the lead, getting a few buckets off their defensive pressure.

"We were able to put pressure on them at the end and get turnovers," Betthauser said. "We've been able to put pressure on teams but we haven't been converting the turnovers for points. This game, we were able to do that."

Pawlus scored all 4 of her points in the final quarter.

"I thought Monica came in and gave us some big free throws and a big layup," Betthauser said of the senior guard.

"And the two freshmen were on the floor at the end. Anna does a nice job facing the basket while Michelle is wiry and can go inside and grab rebounds. I'm willing to go with them right now and let them take their time developing on the varsity."

Fisher added 12 points for the Patriots while Chelsea Jacobsen chipped in 6.

Hersey (0-3, 0-2) was led by senior Sarah Stoltzner's 14 points while Julia Fredin (3 rebounds) and Slove each chipped in 8.

"We need to improve our offensive rebounding," said Stoltzner. "We've finally got all our players back and healthy. Hopefully, we can get on a roll."

Hersey assistant coach Julia Barthel, filling in for head coach Mary Fendley who was attending her grandmother's funeral out of state, said the Huskies hurt themselves by allowing transition buckets.

"We did not recover in our zone press," she said. "We left post players with 2-on-1 situations and that hurts."

Grant 60, Highland Park 42: At Highland Park, the Bulldogs raced out to a 21-2 lead after one quarter and never looked back.

Grant (3-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Heather Ruetsche with 15 points. Tori Ziegler added 13, Jamie Swanson had 12 and Autumn Gaylor chipped in 10.

Tatiana Moore led Highland Park with 19 points.

Grant will play at Deerfield at 7:30 p.m. today against the host Warriors.

Antioch 55, Elgin 46: At Geneva, Christine Gaborek had 15 points for the Sequoits, who got their first win under new head coach Tim Borries.

Andi Potkonjak added 13 and Brittany Deem had 10 for Antioch (1-2).