Stevenson hands Zion-Benton first NSC-Lake loss

Saturday night saw former Stevenson coach Frank Mattucci return to the school where he had coached for 15 years.

"It feels great to be back in Stevenson," said Mattucci, who is now an assistant coach for the Zion-Benton girls basketball team after teaching at Stevenson for 24 years. "I didn't like what happened to our team, but it did feel good to be back here."

The Patriots spoiled Mattucci's homecoming by handing the Zee-Bees their first conference loss, 61-27 in a North Suburban Lake Division game.

Stevenson improved to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the NSC Lake, while Zion-Benton dropped to 14-5 and 7-1 in the conference.

"This was a great team effort," said Stevenson coach Tom Dineen, who like Mattucci and Zion-Benton head coach Tanya Johnson is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. "I felt that we got tremendous contributions from everyone. Our defensive efforts were great, and our decision-making was good. It was a defense that we hadn't played much this year."

Stevenson's Anna Morrissey led all scorers with 17 points, while Michelle O'Brien scored 15. Kelsey Simon chipped in 9 points.

Simon also played a great game by clogging the middle, allowing Zion-Benton to sink only 15 shots from the floor all game.

"I came out with a lot of energy and I wanted to make sure that nobody was going to score on me tonight," Simon said. "I think my strength on the team is defense and I'm a good shot blocker."

Zion-Benton sank only 2 field goals and 1 free throw in a five-point first quarter and 2 field goals in a six-point second quarter.

Juanita Robinson led the Zee-Bees with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.

"It was a complete dismantling of our team," said Johnson, who took over Zion-Benton after coaching at Loyola for 14 years."Stevenson came with all of their guns and Zion came with nothing. Zion was not ready to play this game. Our defensive intensity wasn't there, but on the other hand Stevenson played great."

Mattucci and Johnson used to be rivals.

"You wouldn't have known it tonight, but the kids are lucky and I am very lucky to have Frank helping because we need all of the help that we can get," Johnson said. "It's great to have someone with Frank's experience. You have to have kids that buy into whatever you are trying to teach and I think we do."