Rosary nets its first title

Before Rosary's basketball team entered the Oswego Holiday Classic this year, the Royals knew it was going to be more challenging than ever.

Rosary was in the same bracket as Geneva, Batavia and Minooka.

The Royals bested every team in their bracket and topped host Oswego, 52-39, in the championship game Saturday.

"It's rewarding, nice, whatever the word is," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "It's a little bit of everything because it was such a tough bracket…I was wondering how we were going to come out of it…but yeah, I'm very happy."

This is the first time Rosary and MVP Victoria Alvarez has won this tournament. The Royals went 4-0 and improved to 12-4 overall.

"I liked the win," Alvarez said. "We've never won it since I've been here, so it's really nice having this tournament championship win. It's great."

The Royals set the tone early, as Alvarez began the scoring 15 seconds in with a 3-pointer. By the end of the first, they led 11-4 and by the half, they managed a 30-10 lead after going on a 12-0 run, led by Colleen VanBogaert's 4 points. She finished the game with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

"That was a great boost and it was exactly what we needed," Alvarez said. "A 20-point lead is awesome."

Oswego, however, did not give up. The Panthers chipped away at Rosary's lead by outscoring the Royals 21-7 in the third. They managed to cut the lead to 6 points twice -- the first time after Katelyn Fisher's basket and then again on Colleen Purcell's putback that put the score at 37-31, Royals.

"I don't know what happened there," Beebe said. "This is three games in a row where we had a nice lead and then all of the sudden…all we've been trying to do is make minor adjustments. I don't know, but the kids finally started playing in the fourth quarter."

"(Oswego) fought back and made it a really great game," Alvarez added.

That was as close as Oswego could come, as Rosary scored the first 8 points of the fourth quarter for the 45-31 lead. The Panthers got within 9 twice, but free throws from Faith Jones (8 points, 7 rebounds) and Stephanie Haugen iced the game for the Royals.

Alvarez finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Teammate Jordan Rettig, who was also an all-tournament selection, finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Jones also made the all-tournament team.