Stevenson hangs on against Crane for third straight win

Stevenson's girls basketball team had to stop a second-half rally but held on to beat Crane Tech 55-51 in the third round of the Maine West Tip-Off Classic in Des Plaines on Saturday.

Crane was down 46-31 at the end of the third quarter but started the fourth with a 17-8 run. Stevenson was still leading 54-48 with less than three minutes left.

Demara Howard canned a 3-pointer to pull Crane within three, but Kari Moffat clinched the Patriots' third straight win by converting a foul shot.

"This victory wasn't pretty," said Stevenson coach Tom Dineen, whose Patriots improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the tournament. "We didn't make some good decisions down the stretch. The pressure got to us a little bit. We made some poor decisions in handling the ball. They're a good team and they came after us.

"On paper, we're a young and inexperienced team. But no excuses. Either you get it done or you don't."

Stevenson senior Katie Batman went long distance with four 3-pointers, finishing with a team-high 16 points. Moffat added 11 and Alex Elzinga chipped in 10.

Julia Dabrowski finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds for the Patriots.

"We came out and really had to focus on defense," said Batman, who also grabbed 8 rebounds. "We knew that coming into this game, we had to play hard and make sure that we played all of our passes."

Moffat dished out 10 assists.

"I think we came out strong," Moffat said. "We got the lead that we wanted in the second half. We played tough and held up at the end."

Howard led Crane (1-2) with 16 points, while Champale Grays scored 14.

"I thought we had a chance to take the lead, but we made some passing mistakes," Howard said. "We just made some mistakes at the end."

Cougars first-year coach Jaquita Moore was happy with her team's comeback.

"We just started to make more baskets and play better defense in the second half," Moore said. "We just fell short at the end."