Defense keys St. Viator's victory over Fenton

After back-to-back losses, St. Viator's girls basketball team couldn't wait to get back on track.

And it didn't take long in Saturday's opening-round game of the 27th annual St. Viator Snowflake tourney.

The Lions produced a 14-1 run and never looked back while posting a 43-22 victory over Fenton at the Cahill Gymnasium.

The Lion's defense was sharp, not allowing the Bison a 2-point field goal until 3:17 remained in the contest.

To that point, Fenton had recorded five 3-pointers and 3 free throws.

"We just stopped them inside," said senior Ronnie Mack, who led the Lions (8-4) with 11 points, 2 assists and a steal. "We needed this win because we were coming off a couple of tough losses (Hoffman Estates and Marian Catholic). We needed to turn things around and get our spirits back up."

The Lions got up 18-3 when senior Bridget Urbanus (10 points) hit a 16-footer with 6:54 left in the second quarter.

Fenton got its first basket when Lindsay Speiden (6 points) hit her first of 2 3-pointers with 5:20 left in the first half.

McKall Pugliese had 4 3-pointers for the Bison (5-8) and finished with 11 points.

Sidney Montano, Katherine McEvoy and Maggie Lancaster also scored points for the Bison.

Montano, a freshman, came off the bench and helped on the boards.

"Sidney's got the right attitude," said Fenton coach Tim Anderson of the 5-foot-8 forward, one of tallest players on his team that lacks size. "We have to shoot from the outside. That's what we have. St. Viator was bigger, faster and stronger than us.

"We just tried to hang in the game with them. We played much better in the second half."

St. Viator coach Paul Bjerkness got 15 players into the game.

The Lions had the rebounding edge as Urbanus (6), Taylor Skala (5), Mack (5), Meghan Malone (4). Mary Calov (2), Tracy Supergan (2) and Diana VanStedum (2) all chipped in.

Eileen Mazanek, Emily Leazer, Megan McGrath, Kim McAvoy and Maggie Dougherty all put points on the board for the winners.

But Bjerkness was most pleased with the points the Lions didn't give up.

"I thought the girls were really solid on defense," he said. "And I thought we moved the ball well on offense. We knew they like to shoot the 3s, and they hit some big ones from downtown.

"Our defense was good, our rebounding good, our energy good and our focus was great," Bjerkness added. "And I thought we did an outstanding job sharing the ball on the offensive end."