Fenwick holds off Bartlett's upset bid in sectional final
Bartlett wanted to contain Fenwick's Trish Liston.
Check that. The Hawks knew if they were going to have a chance in Thursday's Class 4A Lake Park sectional championship game, the Duke-bound Liston needed to be shut down and the rest of Fenwick was going to have to beat the Hawks.
Bartlett's Haley Videckis took Liston out of the majority of the game, but the rest of the Friars did their part as Fenwick claimed its eighth sectional championship in the last 15 years with a 70-57 victory.
"Our goal was to limit Liston," said Hawks' point guard Janessa Baker, who finished with 8 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. "We wanted to trap Liston and make the rest of the girls beat us."
After Bartlett (21-10) pulled within 53-51 early in the fourth quarter, the Friars (30-3) responded with 2 baskets from Meredith Boardman, who chipped in 6 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, and a bucket each from Sarah Williams and Liston to go up 61-51 with 3:28 left to play. Bartlett would never come within 8 points in the rest of the game.
"We knew we were right there," said Bartlett junior Jacki Gulczynski, who led all players with 23 points on an 8 of 13 shooting performance. "We just couldn't make the basket when we needed to."
Bartlett struggled all night long with making that one crucial basket to take control of the game.
Gulczynski (4 blocks) jacked a 3-pointer to open the second half giving Bartlett a 37-36 lead. But that would be the last lead on the night for the Hawks as Fenwick answered back with baskets from Anne Mullen and Kathleen Roche (11 points) to go up 40-37.
Gulczynski tied the game at 43 with 4:17 left in the third period, but Williams (12 points, 2 blocks, 2 assists) connected on the next trip down the floor and Bartlett wouldn't score for another 3 minutes, 8 seconds.
"We could not get over that hump," Hawks' coach Denise Sarna said. "We were a couple of points behind and it would have been nice to break that barrier."
Rebounding helped prevent Bartlett from taking a decisive lead as Fenwick held a 45-21 advantage on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds. Liston, who finished with 20 points, 2 blocks and 10 rebounds, grabbed 6 in the opening period. When she was forced out late in the third quarter after picking up her fourth foul, Boardman lived up to her namesake by grabbing 7 of her 10 rebounds in the second half. Kyra Navarrete added 8 rebounds, 4 offensive, and scored 8 of her 16 points in the second quarter.
"That shook us a little bit," Navarrete said of Liston's foul trouble. "Trish came back in and we got back in our groove a little bit."
Although Videckis was charged with the main responsibility of guarding Liston, who averages 29 points per game, Bartlett often times double-teamed her. The result was limiting her to 40 percent (4 of 10) from the floor in the first half and a combined 4 points in the second and third quarters. She finished the game shooting 7 of 16.
"(Videckis) was just staying with me and not moving at all," Liston said.
During this time Bartlett took its first lead since Baker scored the game's first points when Videckis (11 points, 2 assists) put the Hawks up 28-27 with 3:03 left in the first half.
Fenwick regained the lead when Williams nailed a 3-pointer following a Fenwick timeout. The Hawks tied the game at 30, 32 and 34 but never led again in the half.
Sophomore Kristin Conniff finished with 15 points for the Hawks, who return everyone except senior tri-captain Nicolette Gutzwiller.
<div id="infoBox">
<h1>More Coverage</h1>
<div class="infoBoxContent">
<div class="infoArea">
<h2>Related stories</h2>
<ul class="links">
<li><a href="/story/?id=362116">One thing clear: Look out for Bartlett next year <span class="date">[02/25/10]</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>