Highlanders take care of business, prepare for final

Friday night's girls basketball game between Driscoll and Lemont seemed destined to go down to the final minute even before the teams left the floor knotted up at the half.

Driscoll's defense made the difference in the semifinal game of the Oswego East Holiday Tournament, as the Highlanders limited Lemont to 4 points in the final quarter and came from behind for a 44-43 girls basketball win.

"If we had made a few more baskets and free throws we had a chance to extend the lead," Driscoll coach Steve McCuiston said. "That didn't happen, but we still took care of business."

Lemont pieced together a 9-0 run, the longest of the game by either team, stretching through the end of the third quarter and into the fourth to open its biggest lead, 41-36. But Driscoll clawed its way back, and when Taylor Reaber scored off a baseline drive, the Highlanders were on top by 1 with 4:17 left in the game.

"We worked the ball around and didn't rush anything because we knew it was going to be hard to get as many points as we usually do," Reaber said.

But an already grueling game got even tougher from there. Bridget Delboccio scored on a putback, giving Driscoll its final points of the game and a 44-42 lead to defend for the final 2:42.

"It was back and forth," Delboccio said. "We've been playing games like this all week, and we found a way to win."

To pull this one out the Highlanders needed to take care of the ball and deny Lemont's shooters, and much of that was the responsibility of point guard Gigi DiGrazia.

"We like these down-to-the-wire games," DiGrazia said. "We always had a sense that we could do it."

Lemont (10-4) got off to a 4-0 lead, but Driscoll led by as many as 5 in the first quarter before Nicole Wilk and Kristen Preissler each connected from beyond the arc in the final minute, giving the Indians a 16-13 lead after one quarter.

With Lemont collapsing on Courtney Lindfors down low, DiGrazia was able to find her shot and knocked down a trio of 3s in the first half.

Though bottled up somewhat on offense, Lindfors got it done at the other end, blocking 6 shots, including 3 in the final four minutes of the game.

The Highlanders (13-1) play Oak Park-River Forest in tonight's tournament championship.