Urbanus sparks St. Viator past Grayslake Central
St. Viator girls basketball coach Paul Bjerkness was talking about how his team played well against Fenwick and Marist, the only two blemishes on the Lions' won-lost record in the last month, and came to a conclusion.
"We're a pretty good team," he said with a grin that was more proud than boastful.
Grayslake Central will attest to the Lions' prowess.
St. Viator, the second seed in the Class 3A Vernon Hills regional, broke open a tight game in the second quarter and pulled away from No. 3 Grayslake Central to win 55-40 in the teams' regional semifinal Wednesday night.
St. Viator (20-10) will play top-seeded Wauconda (21-6) in Friday's 7:30 p.m. regional final back at Vernon Hills.
Grayslake Central finished 19-8.
"I give (St. Viator) credit," Rams coach Roger Lass said. "They were in control.
"They're really smart. They run well and they cut well."
St. Viator senior Bridget Urbanus does a lot of things well, and what she did against Grayslake Central was put the ball in the basket.
She sparked the Lions in the first half by coming off the bench to score 11 of her career-high 19 points, which led all scorers.
Urbanus scored 9 points, including one of her two 3-pointers, in the second quarter to help the Lions take a 23-14 lead into halftime.
"We knew she was a good shooter," Lass said.
"We knew Grayslake was a good team," Urbanus said. "But we knew if we played like we usually do - full of energy - we could win."
Grayslake Central got within 30-24 on a layup by Rebekah Llorens (7 points, 8 rebounds) with 2:27 to go in the third quarter. But Susan Hohenadel (9 points) converted a three-point play and Urbanus followed with a 3-point basket. St. Viator closed the quarter with an 11-0 run to extend its advantage to 41-24 entering the fourth.
Alex Scarbro led Grayslake Central with 10 points.
The Rams committed 20 turnovers through three quarters.
"We thought Grayslake was a pretty good team, pretty disciplined," Bjerkness said. "We thought they wanted to get into a little running game. We were fortunate to be able to frustrate them a little bit."