St. Viator sprints past Riverside-Brookfield
Late in the first half, Riverside-Brookfield put together a 10-0 run to grab the lead over St. Viator.
But it was the Lions who were running away at the end of Wednesday night's Season's End tourney girls basketball game at Hersey High School's Ken Carter Gymnasium.
Leading by 4 points early in the fourth quarter, the Lions gradually expanded the advantage through the final eight six minutes before registering a 72-60 triumph.
Seniors Ronnie Mack (19 points), Susan Hohenadel (18) and Mary Calov (10) all scored in double figures as the Lions improved to 17-9 heading into today's East Suburban Catholic match with visiting Marist at 7 p.m.
"It was very physical from the start," said Mack, who was 7-of-7 at the free throw line. "We just had to stay focused."
The Lions did, even when the Bulldogs made the 10-0 run to take a 29-27 lead with 1:47 left in the first half.
Calov ended their momentum when she hit her first of 2 3-pointers which gave the Lions a 30-29 lead at the break.
"We played so intense in our Fenwick game (59-48 loss last Friday)," said senior Bridget Urbanus, who chipped in 9 points with a 3-pointer in the first quarter for a 16-8 lead. "We wanted to bring that same intensity to this game."
Hohenadel hit 5 free throws in the fourth quarter and Megan McGrath added 3.
"We are finally coming together for the end of the season," Hohenadel said. "We are starting to pass better because we have struggled with turnovers during the season. We kept them to a minimum this game and we held our composure."
The Bulldogs' top scorer, senior Jessie Hutchens (15 ppg), was injured in the first quarter and sat the rest of the contest.
"That definitely made a difference losing her," said Riverside-Brookfield coach Larry Rocco, whose team (17-5) is tied for first in the Metro Suburban Conference with Illiana Christian. "But the girls never quit and played hard. St. Viator is very well-coached. Paul (Bjerkness) does a nice job,"
Bjerkness used a lot of players off his bench.
"I thought our effort was outstanding," said Bjerkness, who also got offensive scoring from Meghan Malone, Taylor Skala and Maggie Dougherty. "They defeated us in a hard-fought game here last year. Riverside-Brookfield plays hard and they took advantage of some our mistakes. But overall, I thought we played a pretty decent game."
Oak Park, 53, Rolling Meadows 46: Rolling Meadows finished 2-1 in the Fenton High School pool play of the Season's End tourney. The Mustangs (11-15) were led by junior Madelynn Conlin (14 points, 3 3-pointers), junior Morgan Keller (13 points) and senior Kelly Adair (10 points, 2 3-pointers).