Conant savors special weekend

Conant senior guard Ashley Lindeman said her girls basketball team is playing its "second season."

This weekend, the Cougars were second to none.

After a 50-48 victory Friday night over Palatine, the Cougars came right back Saturday afternoon and posted an impressive 51-37 victory over a St. Viator team that entered the nonconference game with a 13-5 record.

Lindeman hit 2 free throws with 58 seconds left in the first quarter that gave the Cougars (7-13) the lead for good and she finished with a game-high 15 points.

"We put the first half of the season behind us," Lindeman said. "We've really been preparing and practicing for this second half."

That practice must have included some 3-point and free-throw shooting. The Cougars struck for seven 3-pointers and 17 free throws.

Kim Davis had three 3-pointers, while Kelly Lomas and Alyssa Rawleigh had 2 apiece.

"Winning two games in row is really a good feeling," Lindeman said. "I thought we were really attacking the basket, and our shooting has really been good lately. We have a lot of people who can hit 3s."

Back-to-back 3s by Lomas gave the Cougars a 22-12 lead midway through the second quarter.

Viator got within double digits only twice the rest of game - once on Mary Calov's 3-pointer to start the second half and the other on a layup by Ronnie Mack which made it 28-20 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

Lindeman answered Mack's bucket with 4 unanswered points - a 15-footer from the baseline, a steal and a layup - and the Cougars never looked back.

"Ashley had a great weekend," said Cougars coach Dan Travers. "She and our seniors (Davis, Kelsey McMahon, Sarah Gohmann and Amanda Beddard) are determined to turn this around for us. It was a great team effort and we got great help off the bench (Rawleigh, Jenna Heneghan, Lomas and Natalie Kutramanes)."

St. Viator was led by senior guard Susan Hohenadel, who scored 13 points including 3 free throws she made with 1.7 seconds left in the game after she was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer.

Mack added 9 points for the Lions, while Meghan Malone chipped in a pair of first-quarter buckets.

Meghan McGrath (2 points) took an elbow to her face, and Lions coach Paul Bjerkness was not sure of her availability for Tuesday's game with Providence. He also does not know when junior point guard Taylor Skala can return from a dislocated finger.

"I thought we had good energy on defense, but we need to rebound better," Bjerkness said. "We need to get better at our free throws. We had a ton of shot opportunities. But we've got to make them."

"Give Conant credit. Dan does a nice job. They run their offense well and they are disciplined."