Yohn's 37 not enough for Wave in OT thriller
If there's cause for concern around the St. Edward girls basketball program heading into the Class 2A postseason, it's with good reason.
Despite senior standout Katie Yohn scoring 37 points, the Green Wave lost for the fifth straight time Friday night, falling to St. Francis 91-87 in an overtime in a wild Suburban Catholic Conference game in Elgin.
According to IHSA records, the game is the 15th highest scoring girls game in state history. It also may be a school record for points in a game for St. Francis, and it was St. Edward's highest point total since a 98-23 win over St. Gregory on Nov. 22, 2002.
But in the end it was a heartbreaker for St. Edward, which had to play the final 2:01 of regulation and the overtime without Yohn, who fouled out for just the second time this season.
"She's a phenomenal player and she's had a phenomenal career," said an emotionally drained St. Francis coach Leslie Dehn, who watched Yohn score 37 on her team for the second time this season. "We just told our kids to try to deny her the ball but not to panic because she's going to get her points."
Another player who got her points Friday was St. Francis senior Jamie Stefely, who scored 31, including 19 in the second half to lead the Spartans (10-12, 6-7) back from a deficit that reached as many as 14 points in the first half and still stood at 13 early in the third quarter when the Spartans went on a 9-0 run to close a 53-40 game to 53-49 after a Stefely hoop.
"Stefely really did a nice job for them in the second half," said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson, whose team dropped to 15-11 overall and 7-7 in the SCC. "Everything that wasn't falling for her in the first half fell in the second half."
The game was tied at 76 when Yohn fouled out and to St. Edward's credit, the young Green Wave stayed with the Spartans, and even forged ahead 82-79 on 2 free throws from Enza Ranallo (13 points) with 36 seconds left in regulation.
But St. Francis' Alex Morris hit a clutch 3-pointer from the left side with 28 seconds to go to force overtime, and the extra session belonged to the Spartans.
St. Edward hung close after St. Francis grabbed the lead early in OT but 2 free throws from sophomore Kelly Reinke (26 points) with 5 seconds left sealed it for the Spartans.
"This was pretty intense," deadpanned Dehn. "We just had to weather the storm of the energy they had for their Senior Night. This is big momentum for us. We just wanted to come out and play well and we did."
Val Gotheridge added 14 points for the Green Wave, who open Class 2A regional play against Seneca at Aurora Christian on Wednesday.
"We're definitely down right now," said Yohn, who eclipsed the 1,700 point mark for her career and needs just 51 points to tie Beth Hasenmiller's school record.
"We definitely need to win our first regional game. I don't want to go out with six straight losses and nobody else does either."