Even snowflakes falling in the gym can't stop St. Viator

In 26 years, a snowflake had never fallen in St. Viator's annual Snowflake Classic.

But believe it or not, that changed in the 27th edition of the girls basketball tournament Saturday.

With 3:25 left in the third quarter of the championship game, the officials had to stop play because of the wet floor near the south free-throw line of the Cahill Gymnasium.

St. Viator was leading 29-20 at the time - and the game was moved into the school's field house where the Lions (12-4) held on for a 42-39 triumph.

It was their third straight title and 16th consecutive win in the tourney dating back to 2006 when they placed third.

Lions senior forward Mary Calov played on all four teams.

"I've never seen snow before in the gym," she said. "It's like magic. But it was crazy."

Highland Park (12-5) tried to make a magical finish on the new floor.

The Giants finished with a 15-2 run after trailing 40-24 with 4:06 left in the game.

"We just had to take a deep breath," Calov said. "We kind of lost our momentum in the new gym but we picked it up again at the end."

The Lions' only basket in the final 4:08 was a driving bank shot by Bridget Urbanus (5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 assist) on an assist from Megan Malone (2 assists).

The Lions missed the front end of two bonus situations in the final 13.1 seconds, and Highland Park freshman standout Leah Munzer (13 points) came up short on a fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have produced overtime.

"We just had to handle their pressure better at the end," said Lions junior guard Taylor Skala (team-high 12 points, 5 steals rebounds, 2 assists), who was named the tourney MVP. "We just got caught up in the game. We really wanted to put it away and we started over-thinking."

Ronnie Mack added 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals

Joining Skala on the all-tourney team were Mack and Megan McGrath, who took two big charges along with 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

"Highland Park is a good team," said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness. "We knew No. 43 (Munzer) was a good player and that we had to keep 50 (junior Briana Collier, who had 15 points) off the glass. And No. 22 ( Emily Feldman, 9 points) is their sparkplug. We got in a little foul trouble, but we overcame it and got a good effort by the girls.

"And it was a game of firsts with the snow delay and switch of courts. I don't ever remember something like that. It sort of changed the atmosphere."

Highland Park, down by as many as 8 points in the first half, trailed 19-15 at the break.

"We didn't play well in the first half and that's probably what got us in trouble (down 19-15)," said Highland Park coach Jolie Bechtel, whose team won the Mundelein Thanksgiving tourney. "We were playing too slowly. We didn't push the ball like we did in the fourth quarter."