Walther Lutheran snaps St. Edward streak
St. Edward girls basketball coach Michelle Dawson could point to several reasons why the Green Wave’s seven-game winning streak ended Friday night.
The obvious one was rebounding. Walther Lutheran outrebounded St. Edward, 44-27, and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in a 43-42 Suburban Christian Blue victory in Elgin.
“Our rebounding is what really hurt us,” Dawson said. “We have them way too many second-chance shots. Against a team like this, you can’t do that.”
The Broncos (10-7, 4-2) were the last team to beat St. Edward (12-4, 3-3) on Dec. 6.
Walther Lutheran got the Green Wave to play its kind of game in the first half. With the fast pace, the Broncos opened a 24-14 lead with 2 minutes left in the second quarter. St. Edward was able to cut the deficit to 6, 24-18, heading to halftime.
“We’ve been one of those inconsistent teams,” Broncos coach Todd Fisher said. “If we can get some of the consistency we had tonight, we’re OK.”
The Green Wave trailed 30-24 with 4:35 left in the third quarter before going on a 7-0 run, started by a 3-pointer from Madeline Kerr and ended by a long 2-pointer from Kerr, to take a 31-30 lead with 2:45 remaining in the third.
The game stayed close the rest of the way with the largest lead was Walther Lutheran by 4, 39-35. It was tied 41-41 with 56.8 seconds left. Katherine VonAhnen hit 1 of 2 free throws to give the Green Wave a 42-41 lead. St. Edward missed the front end of one-and-one with 21.5 seconds remaining to keep it 42-41. Isimeme Edeko drove in the lane, hit a bucket and was fouled with 14.5 seconds left. She missed the free throw and the rebound went out of bounds to St. Edward.
Kerr drove the floor and into the lane, but was stripped by Anna Strong with about 5 seconds left for the Green Wave’s 17th turnover. Strong missed both free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining. Teammate MaShayla Kirksy grabbed the Broncos’ 19th offensive rebound and ran out the clock.
“We wanted to take it the basket,” Dawson said of the final play. “They had full-court pressure so that took away running a set play. I feel very confident with any one of our girls taking it to the basket. It’s not like it was so unstructured.”
St. Edward shot 34.8 percent, going 16-for-46 from the floor. VonAhnen led the Green Wave with 12 points. Alex Lee added 11 points and Kerr finished with 10. VonAhnen, Lee, Rena Ranallo, Paige Gannon and Katie Swanson each had 4 rebounds.
Melanie Ransom had 15 points and 10 rebounds, 4 offensive, for the Broncos. Edeko added 12 points and 9 rebounds, including 5 offensive boards.