Walther Lutheran tops St. Edward
The St. Edward girls basketball team was looking for redemption against the Walther Lutheran Broncos Tuesday but a fourth quarter explosion of offense from the Broncos would make St. Edward fall just short.
The Broncos defeated the Green Wave (6-3, 1-2) 62-50 in Melrose Park in a Suburban Christian Blue matchup. It was the first time the two teams have met since the Green Wave lost to Walther in a double overtime sectional championship thriller last season.
But Wave head coach Michelle Dawson wasn't thinking about last year at all.
"(Tuesday's loss) hurt a little bit," Dawson said of losing to the team that got past St. Edward in the sectional game. "But every conference game is important."
The Wave had a consistent lead throughout the first three quarters, but the Broncos would dominate in the fourth quarter, outscoring the St. Edward 23-6. The quarter opened with a free-throw by senior center Alexandria Lee to put the Wave up 45-39 but Walther Lutheran junior forward Isimeme Edecko would get things going for her team after that, scoring 4 consecutive points to give the Broncos their first lead of the night.
The Broncos continued to steal the show and despite a 3-pointer by St. Edward senior guard Callie Johnson with about three minutes to go, the Wave offense could not get anything going.
Dawson saw that things just weren't going her team's way throughout the fourth quarter.
"(Walther Lutheran) hit those two 3-pointers coming out of the quarter break, and we had a couple of turnovers," Dawson said. "We didn't keep our composure like we should have. We had some shot attempts that just didn't fall, and we weren't able to get the defensive stops that we needed to make up for that."
Lee put up 13 points on the night for St. Edward, while Johnson led the team with 14 points. Edeko put up a total of 22 points for the Broncos.
Dawson saw three great quarters from her team, but knew why they fell short.
"I think mentally we were ready, and physically we were ready," said Dawson. "We played three great quarters, and we didn't quite sustain it in the fourth quarter. It wasn't for lack of effort. We just had some shots that didn't fall, and they did."