Cnota to Sherman lifts Jacobs by Cary-Grove
It wasn't exactly the play Jacobs had in mind.
But it worked, and it won the game.
With time running out, senior Hailey Cnota fought through a triple team and found sophomore teammate Cassidy Sherman alone under the basket. Cnota delivered the basketball to Sherman, who sank the easy layup. The clock ran out as Cary-Grove inbounded the ball and the host Golden Eagles had a 39-37 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls basketball win on Senior Night at the Eagles Nest.
Not only was it Jacobs' first win over Cary-Grove since January of 2005, it also puts the Golden Eagles into a position to claim at least a share of the program's first conference championship. All they have to do is beat District 300 rival Dundee-Crown on Friday at D-C. If they do that, and Cary-Grove beats Huntley at home, the Eagles and Trojans share the conference crown.
"We're going to enjoy this win tonight but we all understand we've got D-C coming up," said Jacobs coach Ed Haugens, whose team is now 22-6 overall and 8-1 in the Valley after its seventh straight win and their coach's 148th career victory.
"Playing D-C is like Army-Navy. Anything can happen on that night. We haven't earned anything just yet. In terms of being able to beat Cary-Grove, this is a monkey off our back. They're such a solid program year in and year out and they're so well-coached."
After losing to Cary-Grove 53-41 earlier in the season, the Golden Eagles knew they had to shoot better, take care of the basketball better and limit the touches of Cary-Grove leading scorer Claire Jakubicek to be successful on this night.
Check, check and check.
Jacobs had 20 turnovers (33 in the first game), shot 15 of 32 (10 of 45 first time) and held Jakubicek to 9 points (17 first time).
"We focused a lot on our defense for this game," said Cnota, who led the Eagles with 14 points after scoring just 5 in the earlier meeting. "Our defense creates our offense."
The Eagles were more than ready from the get-go. They never trailed in the game and caused Cary-Grove 14 first-half turnovers while taking an 18-13 lead at the break.
"The first half was disappointing," said Trojans coach Rod Saffert. "People gotta step up in big games. We didn't decide to step up until the last three minutes."
Jacobs led 35-30 with 4:04 left in the game, but the Golden Eagles were playing tenuous and Cary-Grove (22-3, 8-1) turned up the defense. The Trojans made it 35-32 on 2 free throws by Claire Jakubicek with 2:26 left and 35-34 on a Claire Jakubicek hoop with 1:19 to go. But Jacobs senior Maria Tamburrino (12 points) calmly sank 2 free throws with 1:12 go to make it 37-34. They were needed as C-G's Liz Bart, who had four 3-pointers in the January game, nailed her only 3 of the night with 52 seconds left to tie the game for the first time all night.
"Bart hits that 3 and it's a 0-0 game," Saffert said. "But we got dribble happy and you can't do that against that defense."
Jacobs turned the ball over with 43 seconds to go but the Trojans couldn't capitalize. A scrum ensued after an ill-advised shot in the lane and Cnota came out of the pack with the basketball. She kept control of the ball until she found Sherman underneath for the game-winner.
"It was just kind of a fluke," Cnota said. "It was set up for me to drive and score but then there were three people on me and it just happened that Cassidy was open and she knocked it down."
"I was surprised," said Sherman of finding herself alone under the basket. "We were running the offense and Hailey made a really good pass to me."
Olivia Jakubicek led the Trojans with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"It was everything I thought it would be," Saffert said. "We can't forget that Friday game and that we're still playing for a conference championship. If we play the way we've played at home we can still celebrate."