Gavin’s buzzer-beating 3 lifts St. Viator
Katie Gavin said she felt like she was in a movie when her teammates mobbed her near the free throw circle Tuesday night.
And why not?
The 5-foot-7 senior guard had just made it a Hollywood ending for her St. Viator girls basketball team at Conant.
After trailing by 6 points with less than a minute left, Gavin tossed in a 30-footer just before the final buzzer sounded to give the Lions a dramatic 33-32 triumph.
It was the most thrilling shot of Gavin’s career which goes back to her days playing for St. Mary School in Buffalo Grove.
“I just wish my parents (Mike and Laurie) had been here — they never miss a game,” she said. “They were at my grandpa Dick’s 86th birthday party.”
When her parents and grandfather watch the video, they’ll see senior Lauren Rooney inbound a pass to Jennie Horstmann from under the Cougars’ basket with 3.6 seconds left.
Horstmann quickly passed to Gavin, who caught the ball on the run nearing the half-court stripe. She dribbled a few times and then released the first game-winning shot of her career.
“I knew it was going in the minute it left her hands,” Horstmann said.
“I had a feeling it was going in,” said Lions coach Paul Bjerkness, whose team improved to 6-4. “We had four shooters on the floor and anyone one of them could have taken the shot. Katie’s a gamer. If anyone is going to make that shot, it’s Katie.”
In an loss to Providence last season, Gavin hit a buzzer-beater that sent the game to overtime.
Gavin and backcourt partner Erin Fabbri each finished with 9 points while Rooney had 6 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Teammate Mallory Hess pulled down 13 rebounds with 3 assists.
“With three seconds, we had time for about three dribbles and we got a nice pass to start it,” Bjerkness said. “The girls executed so well the last 3½ minutes. We had some huge defensive stops and used our time outs effectively.”
Seniors Natalie Kutrumanes (15 points) and Brittany Hoffman (7) led Conant.
“Their forwards (Kutrumanes and Hoffman) did a great job inside offensively and defensively,” Bjerkness said. “Conant did a great job and they are well-coached.”
Morgan Hess’ 6-footer on an assist from Rooney gave Viator a 12-2 led with 56 seconds left in the first quarter.
But Conant (4-8) battled back and got its first lead early in the fourth quarter on a driving 6-footer by Hoffman to make it 24-22.
“It was frustrating,” Kutrumanes said. “We made so many turnovers that hurt us. We definitely have a lot to learn from this game. We’ve got to work on the little things and we’ve got to move on from this.”
Two free throws by Kutrumanes gave Conant its 30-24 lead with 1:09 left.
But Fabbri (6 rebounds, 3 assists) scored the Lions’ next 5 points, getting them to within 31-30 when she rebounded own miss with 10.1 seconds left.
A free throw by freshman Katie Lomas put Conant ahead 32-30 with 3.6 seconds.
“We let them back in the game at the end,” said Cougars coach Dan Travers. “We kept battling and we didn’t finish. We’ve got to take care of the basketball. We didn’t screen out and we didn’t make our free throws (9-of-19) for game.”
And Gavin made the shot of the game.
“What can you say about Katie’s shot?,” Bjerkness said. “We put ourselves in a position to win, and Katie came through. I thought we had a great defensive effort down the te end. This is two huge road wins for us in a row. The girls found a way to to finish in both. I’m really proud of them.”