St. Viator roars past Harvest Christian
The prevailing question was who would roar louder in the third round of the Blenner Holiday Classic at St. Viator High School.
The Class 3A Lions from St. Viator, or the Class 1A Lions from Harvest Christian?
Unfortunately for the Lions from Elgin, St. Viator produced possibly its finest game of the season.
For sure, it was Viator's best first quarter.
The Arlington Heights girls led 24-7 after eight minutes and never looked back in a 69-34 triumph at the Cahill Gymnasium.
Viator (6-9) will play for the championship of its own eight-team tournament at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday against Zion-Benton (10-3).
Viator, Harvest Christian and Maine East each finished 2-1 in their pool, but the tourney hosts advanced to the title game through the tiebreaker of fewest points allowed.
Harvest Christian (10-5) will face Glenbrook North for third place at 3 p.m.
The host school was led by sophomores Myia Clark (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Olivia Solimene (16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals).
"Not only did they (Clark and Solimene) score on the offensive end, but what I am most proud is they played extremely good defense on their best players," said Lions first-year coach Jason Raymond.
"For the bulk of the game they were guarding (Paulina Castro who had 14 points, and Alyssa Iverson, who had 8) and basically shut them down."
Two free throws by Castro gave Harvest Christian its only lead at 2-0.
A steal and layup by junior Haley Robinson sparked a 9-0 run for Viator that included a 3-pointer by Clark, fastbreak layup by Maggie Leazer (assist from Robinson) and a 17-footer by Clark.
The girls from Elgin closed to within 12-7 but Viator closed the period on a 12-0 run, including 3-pointers from Clark and Solimene.
"We've had some issues starting games," said second-year Harvest Christian coach Rich DeTamble. "You're going to have some inconsistency when you are starting two freshmen (Jenn Kasper and Grace Callahan), two sophomores (Iverson and Taylor Keeran) and a senior (Castro or Rachel Oostdyk)."
The youthful team is growing up fast.
"I can't tell you how much growth we've made, as a Class 1A school playing teams such as DeKalb, Carmel, Maine East, Leyden and now Viator," DeTamble said. "We don't see these kind of teams throughout the season."
DeTamble, whose club advanced to the Elite Eight last year, purposely seeks out top competition.
"We'll take two steps forward and one back to be able to see better teams," DeTamble said. "If you climb too fast (vs. lesser competition), you leave people behind. Slow. steady improvement moves mountains."
The second-year head coach explained to his girls they are like pioneers.
"We will take the arrows as we break new ground," he said. "We will see some lumps but we will learn. Last year, we made all the way to the Elite Eight and we are not content with that.
"I am willing to have a rougher go of it during the season and not have as a good a record if my girls can take that next step down state."
Viator stepped up from the field, shooting 48 percent (25-for-52) while Harvest Christian was 10-of-43 (23 percent).
Also reaching double figures for Viator was Leazer with 12 points and 2 blocked shots.
"They were a good team," Leazer said. "That No. 21 (Castro) is a very talented player. I thought Myia did a good job defending her.
"We have really been focusing on playing as a team and sharing the basketball. It starts with personalities. Our motto all season has been 'play as a team, to win as a team.' "
Leader was not on the team a year ago as she concentrated on soccer. She was on the varsity basketball squad two years ago as a sophomore.
"Being a soccer player, she has stamina and it's nice that she can stay on the floor when we take starters out," Raymond said. "To me, she is the glue of the team. If there's a point in the season where the team is headed south, or north, she always holds her composure and keeps things together."
Raymond also likes how Solimene has been keeping the offense together.
"I'm so proud of Olivia's leadership," the coach said. "She is truly learning what it takes to be a point guard at the varsity level. And I think it's just the tip of the ice berg. She is starting to run the team the way the point guard has to."
Junior Jenna Breslin added 8 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while senior Julia Bergstrom chipped in 5 points with 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
Bergstrom's mother Lucy will see a familiar face coaching for Zion-Benton in today's championship.
When in high school at Marillac, Lucy Ratzki was a shooting guard for the 1991 sectional champion North Stars, then led by current Zee-Bees coach Tanya Johnson.
Johnson coached Loyola to Class AA state titles in 1997 and 1998.