Geneva topples battling Bartlett

Nearly 24 hours after struggling to a 44-41 road victory over DeKalb, Geneva's girls basketball team faced a different type of challenge Saturday night.

This time, the daunting task included coming back from 15 points down midway through the second quarter and rallying from a 32-21 halftime deficit.

Once again, the Vikings (26-0) answered the call, exploding for 46 second-half points en route to a hard-fought, 67-61 nonconference win over Bartlett (16-8) in Geneva.

It marked the Vikings' 53rd consecutive regular-season triumph - and it was one of their biggest comebacks in a long time.

"We weren't going to lose - that was our mentality," said senior forward Lauren Wicinski, who finished with 16 points and a game-high 18 rebounds before fouling out with 27 seconds remaining.

"It showed us a lot about who we are and it tested the girls in ways that you can never duplicate in practice," said Vikings coach Gina Nolan.

"I'm so proud of how they responded to each other and to what we asked them to do at halftime."

Not only did the Vikings emerge from the locker room with added determination, they operated at warp speed. It took them less than 3 minutes to fight back from a 13-point deficit and draw even at 34-34 thanks to a 13-0 run fueled by 3-pointers from sophomore Ashley Santos and Kat Yelle.

Bartlett retaliated with 5 straight points, capped by Kristin Conniff's 3-point play to retake a 39-34 lead.

But the Vikings closed out the quarter with 7 unanswered points, finally grabbing the lead for good at 41-39 on Wicinski's layup with 10 seconds left in the third quarter.

The eventual 10-0 surge also included 3 points from Sammy Scofield (10 points) and another 3-pointer from Santos, who scored all 13 of her points in the second half against her former team.

"It was just another opponent that we were up against on our schedule," Santos said when asked if she felt any added pressure playing against some of her ex-teammates.

"I focused on my team and how we had to pull out that win."

Geneva extended its lead to 55-44 midway through the fourth quarter but had problems delivering the knockout blow to the Hawks. Bartlett pulled within 4 at 63-59 on a 3-point play by Conniff (19 points, 8 rebounds) with 27 seconds left before the Vikings sealed the win with 4 free throws over the final 25 seconds.

"This was a good test for us," said Nolan.

"These are the kind of games I love to see us play, especially at this point of the season."