Schaumburg survives St. Viator's comeback bid

The area's final regular season girls basketball kept fans in suspense right to the end.

It wasn't until Schaumburg's defense forced a missed 27-foot 3-pointer by St. Viator with one second left that the Saxons could claim a 50-47 triumph.

It was the 25th win in 30 games for the Mid-Suburban West co-champs, who played without 1,000-point career scorers Kylie Castans (foot) and Gabrielle Blackwell (muscle strain), who have combined for more than 2,500 points.

Sophomore Rachael Kahan took advantage of her starting assignment by scoring 12 points, including the bucket that put the Saxons ahead for good.

Kahan hit a driving pull-up 14-footer from the baseline which gave the hosts a 48-47 lead with 31.3 seconds left.

Drewann Pancratz (team-high 18 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals, 5 assists) then converted a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left for the final margin.

"Without Gabrielle and Kylie, we knew we all had to step up," Kahan said. "I guess I just stepped up at the right time (with her game-deciding bucket). Without two captains, we just tried to step up the best we could."

St. Viator stepped up from a 38-20 deficit and used a 21-5 run to tie the game at 39-39 when Jenny Muench (game-high 19 points) hit a 3-pointer with 5:04 left.

Sophomore Mary Calov also had a 3 during the rally.

Back-to-back 3s by Susan Hohenadel (8 points) and Muench gave Viator a 47-43 lead with 1:25 left but Schaumburg's game-closing 7-0 run was started by a 3-point play by sophomore Taylor Kosla (6 points , 7 assists.)

Junior Colleen Nolan added 8 points for the Lions (11-17).

"Our rebounding was better in the second half." Nolan said. "We just came together and decided we could do it."

"It was a real great effort," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. "We played really hard, inspired basketball and those 3-pointers were huge."

Gryte Statas added 8 points and 5 rebounds for the winners while Sarah Kellermeyer and Kaitlin Marchok each had 3 rebounds.

Saxons coach Bill Murmann said Castans played hurt Thursday against Wheeling with plantar fascitis (soreness in heel) and Blackwell has been pain free after undergoing stimulation treatment for her muscle strain in the lower hamstring.

"We didn't want to take chances with either of them," Murmann said. "They'll be ready Tuesday (for regional opener).

"After we got the 18-point lead, we lost our focus on defense and made poor decisions."