Saxons, Wildcats earn Shootout wins

The morning after their disappointing loss to Fremd last Friday night, Schaumburg's girls basketball players came to practice with their track shoes ready to go.

"They figured all we were going to do was run," said Saxons coach Bill Murmann. "Instead, we never took the floor. We went into our room and watched game film."

Schaumburg fans saw their state-ranked Saxons do plenty of running Monday night at Jim O'Boye's 18th annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook High School.

The Saxons (20-2) ran out to a 40-23 lead, then hung on for a 62-59 victory over a strong Marian Catholic team that stands at 16-3.

Senior Kylie Castans scored the Saxons' first 9 points and collected 14 of her 19 points in the first half.

Senior Gabrielle Blackwell poured home 20 of her game-high 25 points in the second half.

"Kylie was an animal on the boards (11 rebounds for the game) in the first half," Murmann said. "And Gabrielle was an animal (game-high 16 rebounds) in the second half. It doesn't matter if Kylie is animal-like, Gabrielle is animal-like. We'll take whoever."

Senior Drewann Pancrartz added 14 points and 4 rebounds while classmate Gryte Satas tossed in a bucket and 2 free throws. Junior Taylor Kosla directed the offense.

"The nice thing about our seniors is that they were really upset," Murmann said about Friday's loss. "They couldn't wait to come back and play basketball and they did."

The Saxons looked sharp, building 40-23 with 4:27 left in the third quarter.

But Marian Catholic charged back and closed to within 58-54 on back to back 3-pointers from Kaila Turner (13 points) and Alysha Ferry (9).

Two free throws apiece by Pancratz and Blackwell and one by Castans gave Schaumburg a 62-56 lead with 1:20 left before Turner hit another 3 to make it 62-59 with 3.9 seconds remaining.

"I think we kind of relaxed and didn't really get up in their faces and our rebounding wasn't as good in the second half," Castans said.

"We played so poorly against Fremd (39-36 loss) so we came out fired up to get that game out of our system."

"This game we had the mindset to just go out and win," Blackwell added. "Marian Catholic really stepped up in the second half and was more aggressive. We just had to make some adjustments. This was a great atmosphere here and was really fun to play ."

The Saxons were making their first appearance in the Shootout.

"Playing here is really a compliment to our kids," Murmann said. "Hats off to Marian Catholic. They have a great tradition. I remember them from when I coached at St. Viator. Shannon Riedy (former coach) got them going and Annie (Basic) has kept it going. It such an honor that people would think so highly of us to invite us to play here."

Wheeling 57, Montini 46: The Wheeling girls basketball team has been playing without a Division I recruit, but you wouldn't have guessed it Monday night.

Janelle Cannon made sure of that.

The 5-foot-9 sophomore guard was a virtual one-girl wrecking crew in leading the Wildcats past Montini 57-46 in the 18th Annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park.

"She kind of took matters into her own hands," Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel said.

Cannon registered a triple double with a career-high 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals.

"We knew they were going to be tough so I came out playing my hardest to do anything to get this win," Cannon said. "After the first couple of times they ran the play I knew what they were doing so I kept reading their eyes and stealing the passes."

With Cannon creating all kinds of trouble for Montini's ballhandlers, Wheeling badgered the Broncos (16-5) into 23 turnovers.

"I told the kids that we should be embarrassed the way we played," said Montini coach Jason Nichols, whose club's winning streak ended at 13. "Today was not good."

Wheeling (20-3) played without Illinois-bound 6-foot-3 center Lana Rukavina, who's been sidelined by a concussion.

Montini used a 9-2 run capped by a Cootie Leeberg 3-pointer to take a 22-21 lead with 2:20 left in the second quarter.

But Wheeling closed the half with 11 unanswered points to claim a 32-22 advantage. Cannon converted back-to-back 3-point plays in the run.

The Wildcats led by as many as 18 in the second half.

Bianca Szafarowicz finished with 12 points and Ashley Wilson added 10 points and 9 rebounds for the winners.

Montini's Michala Johnson scored a team-high 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. The sophomore center also collected 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals.

Clearly the aggressor, Wheeling outscored the Broncos 20-1 from the free-throw line.

Wiegel deemed Rukavina's chances of returning for Thursday's Mid-Suburban East showdown against Buffalo Grove as "50-50."

"We'll see," Wiegel said. "Her health is more important than any one single game, especially with concussion-type symptoms. We just want to make sure she's ready."

Hillcrest 54, Maine West 46: Just when it appeared Maine West was ready to strike, Hillcrest was able to put out the fire.

The Hawks (18-1) watched a 15-point lead dwindle to 1 point early in the fourth quarter but regrouped for the 8-point triumph over West (17-6).

"We were close," said Warriors senior forward Mary Kusner, who scored a game-high 17 points with 14 rebounds. "I think we beat ourselves. I don't think we were ready for their quick guards and the way they pressed us."

Turnovers were the major problem according to Warriors coach Derril Kipp.

"Just too many," added senior guard Colleen Vana. "We were giving them the ball and they were scoring baskets in the transition."

Despite trailing 33-18 late in the second quarter, the Warriors charged back.

Kusner's turn-around jumper with 21 seconds left in the first half ended a six-minute scoring drought for West.

"The second quarter killed us," said Kipp, whose team was outscored 16-5 in those eight minutes. "We were turning the ball over and doing silly things."

A 3-pointer by sophomore Samantha Acosta (10 points) started Warriors' third-quarter rally.

Acosta's layup ended the period and brought the Warriors to within 38-35.

Two free throws and a layup by Kusner off a nice pass from Brittany Begrowicz got West to within 40-39 with 5:22 left in the game.

But Hillcrest went on an 8-1 run to pull away again.

"This was a great experience for our kids," said 14-year Hawks coach John Maniatis. "The kids proved their mettle.

"Coach Kipp's team's always play great defense. They are gritty kids. So this was a good experience for our girls to see that level of defensive intensity."

The Hawks' only loss is to Marist (83-75) in the semifinals of their own Christmas tourney.

Under Maniatis, Hillcrest has won 13 straight conference titles, the most recent ones in the 12-team South Suburban Conference.

West has reeled off 23 Central Suburban Conference crowns in 26 years under Kipp.

The two schools had never met in girls basketball.

"Coach Kipp runs an impeccable program," Maniatis added. "We love playing in his summer league every year."

Begrowicz added 14 points 9 rebounds.

"I thought Brittany and Mary played as well as anyone in this Shootout," Kipp said. "Hillcrest's girls have long arms and are very aggressive on defense. We played into their strengths."

Erin Baumstark score all 5 of her points in the first half as the Warriors were only down 17-15 going in the second quarter.

"The rims here were a little tough and our shots weren't falling," Vana added. "And we didn't get the ball inside enough so we could get more layups."