Wrap: Reinke hits game-winner for St. Francis

Kelly Reinke will have a hard time topping this moment when she's a senior.

St. Francis' freshman guard banked in a 3-pointer as time expired, giving the Spartans a 40-37 win over Marian Central on senior night at the Spyglass Athletic Center.

"This is definitely a first," Reinke said. "I really love our seniors. They've helped me so much this year, so I'm glad to win on their night."

Reinke's runner in the lane tied the game at 37-37 with 42 seconds left. Marian Central missed a shot at the other end, and after a St. Francis miss the ball went out of bounds with 2.2 seconds left.

Shannon Phillips inbounded to Jamie Stefely on the right wing, and Stefely passed up a shot to throw cross-court to Reinke.

Reinke quickly heaved a 3-pointer from the left wing. The ball went off glass, hung on the rim momentarily, then fell through.

"I thought it was rolling out," Reinke said. "I thought the buzzer was going to go off. I just threw it up and it went in."

The win was the Spartans' second this week, following a seven-game losing streak. That skid coincided with the loss of senior leading scorer Catherine Culligan to mononucleosis.

Now St. Francis (12-14, 4-9 Suburban Catholic Conference) has a little momentum with the postseason just around the corner.

"It's definitely been an up-and-down season," Spartans coach Leslie Fay-Dehn said, "but the kids have stuck with it."

Stefely scored 6 of her 8 points in the first half, as St. Francis took a 20-17 lead into the intermission. Marian Central went ahead briefly 21-20, but Maggie O'Toole and Reinke hit consecutive 3-pointers and Reinke scored on a layup in transition to give the Spartans a 30-23 lead going into the fourth quarter.

They still led 35-31 after Phillips hit 2 free throws with 2:10 left, but Marian Central point guard Katie Sharp hit a tying 3-pointer, then found Courtney Johnson underneath for a go-ahead score with 1:08 remaining.

Reinke scored 12 points and senior Christina Belniak had 12 rebounds for St. Francis. Sharp scored 12 points for Marian Central (14-9, 6-6).

"They've lost a lot of close games," Marian Central coach Vicki Hamill said of St. Francis, "but they're playing hard."

"They're definitely finding their rhythm without Catherine," Fay-Dehn said. "They've been pretty focused in practice, taking all the new things we've taught them this year and picking up their game."

-- Joshua Welge

Walther Lutheran 53, Wheaton Academy 45:ŒWalther Lutheran outscored the Warriors 18-10 in the fourth quarter to win the Private School League Tournament title game at Luther North.

Alexa Sharkey led Wheaton Academy (17-9) with 14 points.

The Warriors made 15 of 18 free throws.

Timothy Christian 41, Illiana Christian 38:ŒLindsay VanderBrug netted a game-high 18 points and Shannon McNeil tossed in 12 for Timothy Christian (15-10), which won the third-place contest in the Private School League Tournament.

The Trojans trailed 23-16 at the half but outscored Illiana Christian 15-5 in the third quarter to pull ahead 31-28.

Addison Trail 43, Morton 37:ŒJasmine Little dropped in 16 points to lift Addison Trail (6-21, 3-8) to a West Suburban Gold win.

The Blazers held Morton to 1 point in the second quarter in building a 23-13 halftime lead.

Proviso East 69, Willowbrook 49:ŒWillowbrook (11-14, 5-5) owned a 21-15 lead in the second quarter before Proviso East's size took effect in the West Suburban Gold game.

The Pirates outscored the Warriors 40-25 in the second half.

Collette Williams and Taylor Nelson tallied 13 points apiece in the loss.

Boys basketball

Prospect 66, Buffalo Grove 62:ŒThe big three came through.

So did a trio of defenders Prospect threw at one of the Mid-Suburban League's best players.

And cashing in on those trifectas helped the Knights turn the MSL East into a three-horse race down the stretch after their 66-62 victory at Buffalo Grove.

"I'm really excited," said Prospect 6-foot-6 junior Kevin Reed of moving into a tie for first with Buffalo Grove and Hersey with 2 games to play. "After the first two losses to Hersey and Buffalo Grove all of us were really down and didn't think we had a chance.

"We got on a roll and it looks like we've got a chance to do this."

Prospect (13-9, 6-2) avenged its worst loss of the year -- 57-34 to the Bison on Dec. 14 -- with its fifth straight division win and sixth in seven games overall.

In the first meeting Reed, Jeff Heiden and Alex Toth combined for just 19 points.

This time Reed had 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting with 10 rebounds, 5 first-half blocks and 3 assists. Toth had 11 points and 13 of the Knights' 40-22 rebound edge.

And Heiden scored 7 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter as Buffalo Grove (16-5, 6-2) gave up its season-high point total.

"We knew it would take a lot to get back in the race," said Heiden, whose only 3-pointer put Prospect up 51-45 with 7:16 left. "We knew if we kept working at it every day and kept working hard the ball would bounce our way."

Pat Ziegenfuss, Jason Leblebijian and Eric Vandivier kept Buffalo Grove guard Brian DeSimone from repeating his career-high 39 points last Saturday. DeSimone had a game-high 23 points but was just 6 of 25 from the field and 2 of 10 on 3s.

"They played good defense and we didn't execute," DeSimone said. "We kept trying to get (Reed) in foul trouble but he did a great job."

Reed raced the length of the court to thwart a Kevin Mulligan breakout that would have put the Bison up 19-9.

Buffalo Grove was 8 of 36 inside the arc en route to shooting 33 percent. It went 13 of 24 on second-half free throws to finish 22 of 35.

"Every time they had a little thing going we got the ball inside to Reed," Heiden said after the junior hit the second of 2 free throws to ice it with 4.9 seconds left. "He just made big play after big play. He showed what a great player he is."

Prospect sophomore Joe LaTulip also came off the bench to score 8 points and hit a driving three-point play as they went ahead to stay in the final 1:30 of the third.

"Our defense was atrocious," said Buffalo Grove coach Ryan O'Connor of Prospect's 52 percent shooting from the field. "We played defense after they caught the basketball and that's not us. We can't do that."

The Knights think they can do what few figured when they were 1-2 in the East.

"I feel like we've hit our stride here," said first-year Prospect coach John Camardella. "We're playing the type of basketball these kids know how to play and are comfortable playing."

-- Marty Maciaszek

Hoffman Estates 47, Barrington 30:ŒHoffman Estates wasn't about to overlook Barrington, and the Hawks did the little things, which added up to a big victory.

Junior guard Luke Mead powered the offense early, junior forward Tom Dombrowski converted his free throws late, and the Hawks defense clamped down in between.

It all added up to a 47-30 Mid-Suburban West win at Barrington.

Mead scored 9 of his game-high 14 points in the first half on three 3-pointers, Dombrowski converted 8 of 10 free throws in the final quarter, and the defense limited Barrington to 22 percent shooting.

"Luke (Mead) scored when we needed it, Tom (Dombrowski) scored when we needed it, and everybody else played their role," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro of the victory which left it trailing Conant in the West by 1 game.

Hoffman (13-9, 6-2) travels to Conant next Friday, but the Hawks took care of business on Friday.

"You can't overlook any team," Dombrowski said. "Once you do that things go downhill."

"We knew we had to focus on Barrington," Mead added. "You can't take any conference game lightly. We knew we had to take care of business and that's what we did."

Mead nailed two 3s in the first quarter, including one with nine seconds left to break an 11-11 tie.

But Barrington (6-16, 1-7) responded with junior Mack Darrow scoring inside and junior Daniel Evers converting a pair of free throws for a 17-16 advantage with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter.

Mead then ignited an 8-1 run with his third 3 to close the first half as the Hawks jumped in front 24-18.

Hoffman Estates then extended its advantage to 30-18 to open the third quarter, as Barrington opened the second half by going 0 of 4 and committing 2 turnovers.

"The start of the third quarter really hurt us," said Barrington coach Marty Dello. "We went four minutes without scoring. Our defense was bending and bending, but it didn't break."

Hoffman Estate's defense was rock solid, limiting Barrington to 2 of 14 field goals in the second and third quarters, as it extended its lead to 35-22 early in the fourth.

"We like to help out on defense, like a pack," Dombrowski said of his team's defense.

-- Michael Eaken

Hersey 52, Elk Grove 45: For every action there is a reaction, and Friday's game between Hersey and Elk Grove was the perfect example.

With every hard-fought basket by the Grenadiers the Huskies came right back with an answer. When all was said and done visiting Hersey had walked away with a 52-45 MSL East victory and a share of the lead with Buffalo Grove and Prospect.

"It seemed like every time we struggled they would close the gap on us," said Hersey coach Steve Messer after his return to his coaching home the last nine years. "When we pulled away it was because we were getting multiple touches from rebounding."

Both sides came out with high-energy offenses in the first quarter. Elk Grove senior Billy Hubly scored his team's first 7 points, including a 3-pointer.

Hersey found its shots and took a 13-11 lead after the first.

The Huskies would continue to keep Elk Grove at bay in the second quarter. Dayton-bound Luke Fabrizius picked up some much-needed rebounds, giving Hersey a lot of second-chance baskets. At the break the Huskies led 25-20.

"We've been getting leads and giving them up but tonight I felt like we attacked early and kept on going," Fabrizius said.

The 6-foot-9 senior finished with a team-high 19 points and pulled in 7 rebounds.

Hersey opened up its biggest lead in the third quarter at 35-22. Opening up the barrage were Fabrizius and senior Griffin Dwyer, who hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

"I've been working on driving in practice and taking the open shots," Dwyer said. "I give our guys a lot of credit because they passed the ball well when they were double-teamed."

Elk Grove stayed close in the second half. Junior Tim Furlong sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut Hersey's lead to 6 going into the fourth quarter.

Elk Grove's run ended as Dwyer hit a 3 with two minutes remaining to seal the win for the Huskies.

"This is a big win for us because we lost to Rolling Meadows and Prospect, so we're staying in the hunt," Dwyer said.

-- Todd Mrowice