Conant 44, Glenbard East 27
Pressure is nothing new for the Conant girls basketball team.
After all, when you are a member of the highly competitive Mid-Suburban West and ended up as divisional co-champion, the word pressure becomes relative.
"Our competition is so tough throughout the year that we're often put in tough spots, so we just take it and run with it every time," said Conant senior forward Danielle Ladehoff (8 points, 3 rebounds).
It's no surprise, then, that when the Cougars saw their comfortable lead reduced to 6 points, in the third quarter of their Class 4A regional opener against Glenbard East, it was time for Conant to display the stifling defense and methodical offense that had won them a share of their first division title since 1998.
"As soon as (Glenbard East) brought it within 6, Danielle (Ladehoff) gave the ball to me and said 'Let's go,'" recalled senior guard Lisa Parisi.
Parisi, who finished with a team-high 14 points, and her teammates certainly responded. Conant held the Rams to 7 points for the final 10:30 of play, resulting in a 46-27 victory and a spot in the regional championship at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against rival Hoffman Estates.
Conant (22-6) was hit with a severe blow early as junior guard Emma Loos went down with a sprained ankle, forced her to watch her team's future unfold from the bench.
"When we lost Emma I thought our seniors did a great job of picking it up," said Conant coach Dan Travers.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead, thanks to converting fastbreak opportunities and holding Glenbard East (10-18) to 13 first-half points, resulting in an 11-point halftime advantage.
Yet when the third quarter began, the Rams team that beat West Chicago a night earlier 44-38 to advance, began to emerge.
With the score at 26-20 and facing the possibility of letting their lead slip away, the Cougars' seniors took over.
"If we lost tonight, it would have been our last game ever for all of us (seniors)," Parisi said. "We weren't ready for it to be over."
By the end of the third, Conant had a 33-21 lead, thanks in large part to the hustle of Ladehoff and Parisi and a strong all-around performance from senior forward Michelle Rawleigh (10 points, 3 rebounds).
"(Playing for the regional title) was our goal all year and it's great that we accomplished it," said Ladehoff.
-- Dan Hyman
Hoffman 56, York 33: A 20-plus-victory season. A regional-opening win. What's next for upstart Hoffman Estates?
Nothing easy, that's for sure. But nothing's come easy in this season of trademark breakthroughs, including a 56-33 Class 4A regional-opening win over York at Conant. The No. 5 Hawks (22-7) now meet No. 4 Conant, to whom they lost twice this year, for the regional title at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
But as part of this Lake Park sectional, as Hoffman head coach Mike Nocella noted, "It was either Conant, Fenwick, Schaumburg, or Proviso East. They're all good teams."
The regional-opening foe was tough enough, especially at the outset. York (15-14) used forward Courtney Owens' versatility inside and out and guard Meryl Cripe's quickness to grab a 10-8 first-quarter lead against a Hawk team "…a little bit jittery," said Nocella. "We missed 3 or 4 layups" in the first quarter.
The jitters behind them, they fed season-long leader Megan Fischer for 5 second-quarter hoops, most of them off the curl cut down the lane, and got solid play off the bench from freshman Jada Stotts (13 points) and junior guard Colleen Roberts as they outscored the Dukes 20-2 in the quarter to seize a halftime lead that would never be less than double digits again.
"We didn't do a good job on Fischer," said disappointed York coach Ken Dowdy. "A lot of credit goes to how well she played," after she scored 17 points.
Hoffman also switched to a 2-3 zone to stymie Owens and got a solid effort on her in man-to-man from Stotts.
"She's quicker. She matched up," said Nocella after Owens finished with a game-high 20 points, but 9 of them in the first quarter.
-- Howard Schlossberg