Gulczynski, Bartlett hang on to oust Lake Park
When the Class 4A girls basketball pairings came out a few weeks ago, Bartlett wasn't real thrilled to see it would open the Glenbard East regional against Upstate Eight Conference rival Lake Park.
Tuesday's game showed why.
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, the Lancers rallied to tie the game three times but never could take the lead. Sixth-seeded Bartlett won 49-47 and will play No. 2 Elk Grove in Thursday's regional final.
"The girls fought hard," Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling said. "It was a great comeback. It was an exciting game to watch. We just came up one too many short."
Bartlett (19-9) pulled away in the second quarter, outscoring No. 10 seed Lake Park 19-4 to take a 24-11 halftime lead. That margin held steady into the fourth quarter, mainly because the Lancers (16-12) couldn't buy a bucket. They made just 18 percent of their shots in the first three periods.
"We really focused on getting in their face and trying to cut off all the passing lanes," Bartlett's Haley Videckis said.
"On the offensive end we looked to finish a little bit more than in the first half," Fruehling added. "We hit a few more shots, and hitting more shots gave us more confidence on both ends, and that just fed off each other."
A Tori Clark 3-pointer with 6:32 to play started a 17-4 Lake Park run that tied the score at 42 on Alexis Hahn's bucket with 1:24 to go.
"It came finally at the end," Fruehling said. "Sometimes with a game like this shots get a little rushed. They're working really hard, and it's just not a natural follow through. We left a lot of shots short."
Hawks Janessa Baker, Videckis and Jacki Gulczynski combined to make 5 of 6 free throws to keep the Lancers from moving ahead, and Gulczynski's turnaround jumper from a couple of feet out with 2.8 seconds left broke a 47-47 tie. Lake Park's last-ditch running 3-pointer just missed.
"There's a lot of pressure on every single player on our team," said Videckis, one of four sophomores to start for Bartlett, "but we really pulled it together because we had the passion to win that game."
"I do think that we'll need to relax a little bit more because sometimes you can put a little pressure on yourself, and certainly that's not necessary at this time," Hawks coach Denise Sarna added. "Play ball, that's what we practiced all year long. Practice and play ball like we can. Hopefully, we got the jitters out in this game and we won't have to deal with that in the next game."
Gulczynski led Bartlett with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Baker added 11 points. Chelsea Gieseke led Lake Park with 15 points before fouling out with 45.9 seconds left, and Carly Willert scored all of her 11 points in the fourth quarter.
"I give my kids a ton of credit," Fruehling said. "They fought back, they fought back hard. They deserved to be right there. I just wish it could have been a little different story for them."