Fenwick outscores Geneva
Before Geneva's game with Fenwick Wednesday night Gina Nolan received a standing ovation from the crowd and roses from her players as the Vikings honored their former coach and breast cancer survivor on their pink night.
After the game those same fans gave both teams a similar ovation as they walked off the court having left everything they had on it. It's not often Geneva finds a team that likes to run as much as it does, but the Friars are one such squad that had just a little too much firepower for a highly entertaining 79-71 victory.
No. 4 Geneva (19-4) made its most emphatic statement yet that despite losing Ashley Santos to a season-ending injury four games ago the Vikings aren't going to back down from the likes of Fenwick (17-5).
“I told them in the locker room we might have lost but nobody should hang their heads,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “Be proud of how you played. We're right there. We can play with anybody. I think there are a lot of teams questioning us and I think after this game I don't think they can. We lost but we are going to fight and be right there at the end.”
While Fenwick entered averaging 76 points a game it was the Vikings who were on a 100-point pace after Sami Pawlak followed her own miss to put Geneva ahead 25-15 after the first quarter. The Vikings broke free from a 13-13 tie with a 12-0 run late in the quarter — the first of several quick momentum changes as the teams raced each other up and down the court.
After Fenwick turned the ball over 9 times in the opening quarter, the Friars gave the Vikings a dose of their own medicine by forcing 7 Geneva turnovers in the second. That helped ignite a 17-2 surge by Fenwick in a mere three minutes that turned a 31-24 Geneva lead into 41-33 deficit.
Fenwick's Jade Owens scored 13 of those 17 points in that quick span as the Friars capitalized not only on the turnovers but a little Geneva foul trouble.
“I think we were up 10 and the next time I looked we were down 9,” Meadows said. “We need to withstand that.”
Trailing 43-39 at halftime after Pawlak's layup on a three-quarters court pass from Michaela Loebel just before the buzzer, the Vikings jumped on the Friars in the third to regain the lead at 49-47 on a steal and basket from Kelly Gordon.
Gordon assisted Rachel Hinchman for what turned out to be the Vikings' final lead at 51-50.
Like it did in the second quarter, Fenwick put up points in a hurry — this time 10 points in a 60-second stretch for its biggest lead of the game at 60-51. Marek Burchett buried back-to-back 3s to force a Meadows timeout.
Geneva spent the rest of the night playing catch-up and almost did. The Vikings again beat a buzzer to end the third quarter, this time with freshman Abby Novak — in her second varsity game — finding Hinchman to bring the Vikings with 63-57.
Geneva got as close as 64-63 in the fourth when Loebel split free throws and 66-65 on Stevie Fanale's lay-in.
The Friars only hit 2 of 14 shots from the field in the fourth but were able to stay ahead with 12 of 16 free-throw shooting. Geneva also turned the ball over 8 times — the last of its 26 for the game, which still was better than Fenwick was able to handle Geneva's pressure with 31 turnovers.
“It was a roller-coaster ride, wasn't it?,” Fenwick coach Dave Powers said. “When you play this style of ball and you are down 15 it feels like you are down five. That is the pace we want to play. We enjoyed it. When you press both ends that (turnovers) is going to happen.”
Fenwick received several strong individual performances. Six-foot-1 senior Meredith Boardman led the way with 23 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Owens added 20 points and Burchett 16.
“Boardman and Owens were ridiculous,” Powers said. “They had a great games.
“It was a lot of fun. They (Geneva) are a very good team. They bring a lot of energy to the table.”
Geneva, which got off 74 field goal attempts making 28, put four players in double figures: Gordon (17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals); Pawlak (16 points, 13 rebounds); Hinchman (15 points, 5 assists) and Loebel (11 points, 6 steals, 5 rebounds). Morgan Seberger just missed with 8 points.
“Even though we lost we fought in there,” Loebel said. “I'm proud of how we played. It was a really quick game, they are a really good team. They move the ball fast. We all had to try out hardest and play 100 percent because it was a tiring game obviously.”
Fenwick hurt Geneva at the free-throw line making 23 of 29 to Geneva's 13-20.
Geneva can take plenty of positives from the loss, namely that even without the Marquette-bound Santos it will be a tough out in the postseason. It's that they will remember from this game — that and the 150 combined points.
“That game was so fast. I don't honestly know how many set offensive plays we even ran. It was just up and down and up and down,” Meadows said. “That was exhausting. Good game. It's a couple possessions and maybe a few less turnovers. Our kids stepped up and they played hard.”