St. Viator off to winning start
In addition to converting a lot of field goals, the St. Viator has one other big goal for its own eight-team 26th annual Snowflake Tournament.
"We really want to win this tournament," said senior guard Jamie Blenner after helping the defending champs get off to a winning start with a 52-34 victory over Maine East.
"It's our own tournament, so it's real important to us. If we win this, it will help give us confidence for the rest of our conference season."
The Lions (8-4) gained all the confidence they needed Saturday when they blitzed the Blue Demons (0-11) for a 17-0 lead seven minutes into the game at the Cahill Gymnasium.
After junior guard Susan Hohenadel's driving layup started the scoring just 20 seconds into the game, Lions senior Kelly Hendricks made her first of 6 steals and went on to convert a layup for 2 of her 8 points.
Just three minutes later, the 5-foot-4 point guard repeated the same play and the Lions led 9-0.
Hendricks' 8 points were second highest on the team behind Lions leading scorer Hohenadel, who had a game-high 17. Hohenadel has been in double figures in 11 straight games.
"That No. 2 is really a good defender," said first-year Blue Demons coach Karol Hanusiak, who was teammates with NBC sports reporter and former all-stater Peggy Kusinski for Resurrection High School in the late 1970s. "She (Hendricks) gave us fits up front. We haven't seen a player who was able to pickpocket us like that all season."
Lions coach Paul Bjerkness said Hendricks helped set the tempo.
"Kelly did a good job of setting the tone defensively," said the coach, whose team is also 4-0 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. "She got us going with her ball pressure. When Kelly does that, everyone else gets going, too."
And before long, the Lions were gone, leading 26-3 midway through the second quarter.
Bjerkness subbed freely the rest of the way.
Junior forward Mary Calov pulled down 5 rebounds and blocked 3 shots, which also kept the Blue Demons off balance. Bridgette Urbanus collected 4 steals.
"They're solid," said Hanusiak, who has been an assistant at Resurrection, Conant, Ridgewood and Maine East. "They move the ball around real well and have some real nice shooters."
Colleen Nolan added 7 points for the Lions while teammates Mandy Kompanowski, Meghan Malone, Urbanus, Ronnie Mack and Christine Muench all made it into the scoring column.
"I thought we played with good energy," Bjerkness said. "It was a nice way to start the tourney"
Tiffany Jones led Maine East (0-11) with 8 points while Kristen Beierwaltes added 8.
The Lions face Elmwood Park at 12:30 p.m. Monday when the tourney resumes.
"We have to stay consistent and keep playing the way we know how," Blenner added. "We have to find the open player and be smart."