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 any one of them could have taken the shot. Katie's a gamer. If anyone is going to make that shot, it's Katie."

In a 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 timeouts 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 her own miss with 10.1 seconds left.

A free throw by freshman Katie Lomas put Conant ahead 32-30 with 3.6 seconds left.

"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 the game."

Christian Liberty 37, Schaumburg Christian 33: Sophomore Megan Sullivan fired in 14 points (2 3-pointers) and collected 8 assists while Jess Moriarty and Carly Baric each chipped in 7 points to lead Christian Liberty Academy to a 37-33 victory at Schaumburg Christian in girls basketball Tuesday.

The Chargers improved to 6-2 under first-year coach Colleen Sullivan.

Cary-Grove 49, Buffalo Grove 41: The host Bison (1-9) were led by junior Bailey North (11 points), sophomore Kim Herzog (10) and junior Carly Cheever (10) in the nonconference game.

Niles West 67, Maine West 47: Sophomore Brittany Collins (23 points, 12 rebounds) and junior Ashley Collins (8) were to scorers for Maine West (3-9) in Skokie.

Notre Dame-bound Jewell Lloyd scored 50 points (22 in the first quarter as the Wolves took a 26-15 lead).

Lloyd connected for 10 3-point baskets in the CSL crossover.

Vernon Hills 51, Barrington 43: Senior guard Nicole Collins led the Fillies (5-5) while sophomore Angie Kirchoff added 9 in the nonconference game.

"We shot only 22 percent from the field," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "I thought we played well in the second half."

Boys basketball

Fremd 41, Huntley 40: Fremd guard Riley Glassman was rather surprised when Huntley did not foul him.

What didn't surprise him, however, was his 27-foot shot sailing through the hoop as time expired to give the Vikings a 41-40 nonconference boys basketball victory over host Huntley on Tuesday.

"It felt good when it left," said the sophomore guard. "I was surprised that they didn't foul me. I really thought it was going to come."

After driving up the court, Glassman (9 points) popped open on a double screen, but the option the Vikings (7-2) were hoping for was an inside look to tie the game with a layup.

Huntley (5-1) had taken a 40-38 lead when sophomore forward Amanze Egekeze (10 points, 2 blocks) made a pair of free throws after drawing a contact foul while cutting to the lane.

Fremd's Sean Benka (9 points) tied the game at 38-38 when he drove the lane and connected on a layup with 22 seconds left. That was the first tie since Huntley knotted things up at 31-31 early in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings made their final 4 baskets of the game by pounding the ball down low.

The original setup for the final play was to again look underneath the hoop and give Glassman a chance to score. That plan was partly due to some news that came earlier in the day when Fremd coach Bob Widlowski found out that leading scorer Garrett Peters would not be available to play against Huntley. Peters is suffering from a foot infection, but may return as soon as Friday at Hoffman Estates.

"We were trying to get ball screens for Riley up front," Widlowski said. "We wanted to get the ball in Riley's hands. We wanted to give a chance to get him to the rim."

Matt Stacionis

Meadows 72, Glenbard South 46: Rolling Meadows liked what it got from its Mikes in Tuesday night's nonconference boys basketball game at Glenbard South.

Senior Mike Rose led the way with a career-high 15 points as Meadows (5-4) got its fifth win in six games 72-46.

Mike Olson had 9 points and hit 3 of the 10 3-pointers by the Mustangs, Mike Dolan had 8 points and 8 rebounds and Mike Weingart chipped in 2 points.

"We jumped on them a little early and ran the floor pretty well," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich of leads of 23-15 after a quarter and 41-24 at halftime. "We got out in transition and that certainly helped and we're shooting the ball pretty well right now."

Tyler Gaedele scored 13 points and hit three 3s and John Ott added 8 points and hit a pair of 3s. Brian Nelms had 6 points and 10 assists and the Mustangs committed only 5 turnovers and forced 17.

Barrington 61, Jacobs 40: Barrington (6-3) didn't waste any time taking command in the nonconference home victory as it led 20-2 after one quarter. Brad Zaumseil scored 16 points and hit three 3s, Mark Bennett scored 11 and Jackson Wegner added 8 points.

Barrington, which led 34-11 at halftime, faces the Golden Eagles again next Tuesday in the final day of pool play in the Jacobs Holiday Tournament.

Glenbrook North 53, Conant 24: Conant (5-3) fell behind 7-0 to start the nonconference game at Glenbrook North (7-1) and could not recover in Northbrook.

"Every once in a while you have a clunker and that's what happened tonight," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "We'll have to get this one out of our system. We weren't able to keep the game close. We missed a lot of short shots."

Kurt Karis and Mark Johnson led Glenbrook North with 17 points apiece. Tim Manczko led the Cougars with 8 points.

Leyden 66, Fenton 47: When you can score in this many ways, you don't need much defense.

Of course, Leyden's boys basketball team also had plenty of that on Tuesday.

Hitting Fenton from multiple directions, the Eagles cruised to a 66-47 victory in nonconference action in Bensenville.

While Leyden (5-2) has been solid most of the season, this still ranks as one of the team's better efforts. Three players in double-figure scoring and 17 forced turnovers paved the way.

"It was a team effort, and that's what we've been trying to emphasize in practice," said Eagles guard Alex Herrera. "Everyone needs to step up, not just one or two guys. "

Leyden hit five 3-pointers and worked for 6 three-point plays. Putbacks came often from post player Brian MacNamera, who had 15 points and 9 rebounds.

Herrera, who made three 3s, scored 14 points while backcourt mate Omar Lazoya hit the other two 3-pointers and tallied 13 points. Jonny Woolf added 8 points off the bench. Kevin Schmit

$CLASS=breakhead$Men's basketball

Olive-Harvey 87, Harper 73: After losing three straight games at the William R. Bear Classic at Highland Community College last Friday and Saturday, the 5-8 Harper College men's basketball squad, looked to bounce back Tuesday night when it hosted 5-7 Olive-Harvey.

However things did not go as hoped for the Hawks as the Panthers came away with a 87-73 nonconference victory in Palatine.

Early on it appeared both teams would be in for a nail-bitting finish. That would not manifest itself as Olive Harvey went on a 20-4 tear to take a 43-34 halftime lead.

"We pushed the ball and played our game," said Panther guard Deven Williams of the spurt. Williams accounted for 41 percent of the Panthers' scoring with 36 points.

"He's a very, very talented kid. (Willams) is a flat-out athlete, he looks like a football player and he shoots the ball (well)," said Harper coach Tony Amarino of Williams. The second half would not fare much better for the home side. The Hawks, still rattled by the up-tempo pace set by Olive Harvey in the first half, either missed easy shots or made easy shots more difficult than necessary.

The Panthers would see the lead balloon to as many as 22 points. The Hawks were led in scoring by three players Kyler Market (Willowbrook) had 24 and was followed by Connor Miklasz (Hersey) with 10 and Horace Grant Jr. (Deerfield) with 7 points. Jonathan Cregier