Aurora CC wins first sectional
The back-to-back 1-win seasons seemed as dated for the Aurora Central Catholic girls basketball team as the Civil War Thursday night in Palos Heights.
“The people at Aurora Central decided that was enough,” Mark Fitzgerald said after the Chargers’ program continued its maneuvering in uncharted waters with a 64-52 victory over St. Francis De Sales in the Class 2A Chicago Christian sectional championship. “This is for Aurora.”
Fitzgerald took over at Aurora Central at the start of the 2008-09 season as the Chargers won a combined 2 games the previous two years.
The Chargers (24-6) will face Chicago Al Raby, which denied the Latin School in overtime at Timothy Christian, Monday night at the Concordia University supersectional in River Grove.
St Francis De Sales closed out its season at 17-11.
On a night when the play was physical and the crowd as vociferous as it was partisan, Aurora Central scored the opening 6 points and never looked back.
Tess Alderman, the Chargers’ senior transfer from Kaneland, scored 16 points to lead three players in double figures.
After a slow start offensively, point guard Jackie Cardona scored 8 team points in succession for ACC during a decisive second-quarter run.
“We were putting in our shots,” Cardona said. “Our defense really helped us win.”
Alex DeCraene hit a pair of free throws, and Alderman scored on a driving score in the final minute before halftime to give Aurora Central a 33-21 cushion at the break.
Kaitlyn Rosa, who missed several minutes in the second quarter after injuring her hip, returned in the second half to anchor the Chargers’ progressive expansion of their lead.
The final box score showed the Chargers’ senior post with 10 points, but her 18 rebounds limited ever-dangerous second-chance points for De Sales.
“I was real proud of her,” Cardona said.
Alderman had yet another inside score early in the third quarter, and Cardona split a pair at the free-throw line—her only miss in 12 attempts—to give Aurora Central its largest lead of the game at 38-22.
But the early third-quarter burst may have come at a penal cost for the Chargers: starting guard Lisa Rodriguez was lost for the remainder of the game with a right-hand injury.
But ACC never missed a beat as DeCraene ended one promising De Sales run with a critical third-quarter 3-poiner, and Alderman hit an even more improbable 3-pointer three minutes into the fourth quarter to conclude a 13-4 run.
“I don’t know how it went in,” Alderman said. “I was fouled on the shot.”
Aurora Central had its largest lead of the night at 51-32 but had to withstand Brianta McMorris’ 3-point onslaught.
Tyler Brown-Henderson had a game-high 24 points for the Pioneers.
“We just didn’t make shots,” De Sales coach Terrence Streater said. “Our defensive pressure didn’t work.”