Bishop McNamara defense slows down St. Viator
Upon arriving in Arlington Heights on Saturday, the Bishop McNamara girls basketball team had given up 28 or fewer points in three of its last four games.
The Fighting Irish defense hardly suffered a letdown in the Fr. Cahill Gymnasium.
Senior Brittany Hasselbring (17 points), freshman Belinda Schaafsma (11) and Brandi Branka (10) helped carry the Bishop McNamara offense in a 55-28 triumph over the Lions, who had won five of their last six games.
With back-to-back East Suburban Catholic Conference setbacks to Marist and Bishop McNamara (10-6, 3-2), St. Viator (8-11, 2-4) hopes to get back on the winning track when it hosts North Chicago on Wednesday.
"We played two good teams this week," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. "Marist is an outstanding team and Bishop McNamara (Class 2A) is very good.
"We were ready for their 1-3-1 zone press. They stay true to it. But I thought we were going to execute better."
Hasselbring, an all-conference guard, scored 10 of her game-high 17 points during McNamara's 34-12 blitz to begin the contest.
"We came out slow," said Lions 5-foot-9 senior forward Tori Callero who grabbed a pair of rebounds and scored the Lions' first bucket. "One of the big differences was we couldn't break their press."
Bjerkness agreed.
"Their press gave us trouble," he said. "We didn't break it the way we know we can."
Senior Jenny Muench led the Lions with 10 points (two 3-pointers), while sophomore Susan Hohenadel added 6 with 2 rebounds. Christine Supergan led the hosts with 4 rebounds.
"We thought St. Viator was capable of dribbling and penetrating," said coach Jeff Bennett, who guided the Irish to the Class AA Sweet 16 last year and the Elite Eight two years ago. "I thought we did a good job closing the gaps and limiting them to 1 shot.
"I have a lot of respect for St. Viator. Their kids like to go in and score, so I thought this was a good defensive effort for us. We did a heck of a job holding them to 28 points."
Hoffman Estates 52, South Elgin 44:ΠHawks junior guard Megan Fischer scored a game-high 23 points and also hit her 34th straight free throw before finally missing one in the fourth quarter of the nonconference game at South Elgin,
Fischer was 10 of 11 at the line and also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Junior Carol King (two 3-pointers) added 10 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds for the Hoffman Estates (13-5), while classmate Megan Evans added 6 points and 6 rebounds.
"Carol (King) had a nice game," said Hawks coach Mike Nocella. "We had not played a game in two weeks, and it kind of showed. As the game went along, the kids got stronger and more energetic."
The Hawks' Megan Bernardoni added 5 rebounds and 4 points.
Lake Park 43, Palatine 37: Junior Lauren Orris led the Pirates (6-13) with 15 points, while Nikki Linares added 7 in the nonconference loss in Palatine.