St. Viator beats buzzer, Irish
With 1.5 seconds left and her team down a point, St. Viator senior Colleen Nolan said she was shaking while standing behind the Lions' baseline trying to inbounds the ball for a final shot.
The St. Viator fans were on the edge of their seats, too, hoping their girls basketball team could somehow pull out a last-second victory to stay perfect in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
Perhaps Kelly Hendricks was the most relaxed person in the Cahill Gymnasium.
As Nolan surveyed the court, Hendricks made a cut toward the basket, then reversed back out behind the 3-point arc near the southeast baseline.
Nolan spotted the 5-foot-4 senior guard and tossed the ball to her longtime teammate.
Hendricks calmly delivered the game-winning 3-pointer for a dramatic 48-46 victory that kept the Lions (14-4) tied for first in the ESCC at 5-0. Bishop McNamara slipped to 9-4 and 4-2.
"During the timeout, Mr. (Tom) Blenner (assistant coach), just said 'whoever gets the ball, just relax and step up for the shot,' " said Hendricks, who had never made a last-second game-winner. "And that's what I did."
Just two weeks ago, junior Mary Calov tossed in a last-second 3-pointer to give the Lions a win at St. Joseph.
This time, Calov set the screen which set Hendricks free.
"This was just an entire team effort," said the modest Hendricks, who was lifted off her feet by her teammates after she made the game-winner. "We boxed out. We made good passes. We worked hard on offense. We really wanted this for conference."
Two years ago, McNamara defeated the Lions on a last-second shot in the Cahill.
Last year, the Fighting Irish made it to the final four of the Class 2A state finals.
"It's the last-second shot you remember," said McNamara veteran coach Jeff Bennett, whose team trailed 18-9 early in the second quarter but fought back and got ahead 46-45 on Erika Tatum's rebound basket with 24.2 seconds left in the game. "But we had a lot of possessions before that should have been better. On the other hand, this is an ESCC game and on the road. We'll get better for it."
The Lions were led by junior Susan Hohenadel (11 points), Hendricks (9), senior Jamie Blenner (9) and Nolan (9), who also had a team-high 7 rebounds and took a charge.
"Kelly was so relaxed," Nolan said of the final shot. "I knew right away it was going in. Her form was perfect."
Blenner added 6 rebounds, followed by Calov (5) and Ronnie Mack (3), who also converted a 3-pointer.
Senior guard Mandy Kompanowski had a key rebound layup while Calov hit a big 3-pointer to spark the Lions' 10-2 second-quarter rally.
"Bishop McNamara is a good team and I thought we did a great team job with defensive rebounding and a nice job throwing the extra pass on offense," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness.
Of course, Nolan made the big pass at the end of the game.
"All I saw was Kelly's shot go up, and I saw her follow through," Bjerkness said. "I just kept saying 'go in, go in.' It was a great team effort. This group of girls has the heart of a champion."
Maine West 28, WW South 24: Junior right-hander Sam Acosta (16 points, 6 rebounds) led the Warriors (10-6) in the nonconference game in Des Plaines.
With 50 seconds left, Shaina Yalda (3 assists) hit Megan O'Neill on a backdoor pass for a layup and 26-24 lead. Acosta added 2 free throws with 9 seconds left to seal the verdict.
"I think it was a situation where you had two teams who hadn't practiced for a while and the defense was ahead of the offense," said Warriors coach Derril Kipp. "We didn't score a lot of points but it was two teams coming off the holiday."
O'Neill (10 rebounds), junior Ellen Coogan (3 steals) and senior Kelsey Hargesheimer (3 rebounds, 2 steals) each had 4 points for the winners, who travel to Barrington on Wednesday for a Sweet Sixteen contest.