Conant's clutch comeback leads to West win

Conant's girls basketball team staged its finest comeback of the season on Friday night at Barrington.

Trailing 43-31 with less than six minutes, the Cougars produced a 17-2 run which led to a dramatic 53-50 Mid-Suburban West victory.

"It's a good start to Christmas," said smiling Cougars senior Lauren Murphy (team-high 12 points), whose 3-pointer with 5:25 left began the big rally. "We just showed that we can come back from anything."

Murphy hit another from long range to cut the deficit to 43-39 with 4:14 left.

After 2 free throws from Barrington sophomore Taylor Thompson (game-high 21 points) pushed Barrington's lead back up to 45-41, senior Cate Fitzgerald (10 points) hit from long range to get the Cougars to within 45-44.

The visitors (3-9, 2-2) took the lead for good when Murphy zipped a perfect pass inside to Stephanie Mazurek (5 points), who darted to the basket for a layup and 46-45 lead with 2:56 left.

"It was just so exciting," said Murphy, who hit three 3-pointers. " We never hung our heads and we were always looking to win. We were so confident. When someone makes a shot, it brings so much more energy to our team and that's how we made the comeback."

Conant junior Abbey DiSalvo (6 points) broke free for a layup that made it 48-45 and lead expanded to 51-47 following a 3-pointer by senior Taylor Cyr (8 points).

A 6-footer by Thompson made it 51-49. Thompson's free throw with 10.2 seconds left got the hosts within 51-50 before junior Hannah Shulman's 2 free throws sealed the deal for Conant with 3.2 seconds left.

Tori Meyer's 40-foot 3-pointer missed after hitting the back of the rim at the buzzer.

"That was some of our best basketball of the season and it was because of our defense," said Cougars coach Deidre Naughton. "That's what we try to stress to this group. Their energy comes from playing defense. When we don't pick it up on defense, we relax on offense."

The Cougars' offense scored only 2 points in the third quarter while the defense gave up 18 points (eight from Thompson).

"I thought we played a wonderful third quarter and we finished well in the second quarter after a slow start," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "I give Conant a lot of credit for the comeback."

Naughton called it the Cougars' best comeback of the season.

"Lauren Murphy did a great job," Naughton added. "Cate (Fitzgerald) knocked down some shots. It was a really a team win, for sure. And we were without Ania (Baker, who had 6 points in the first quarter) for a lot of the game (foul problems).

"Everyone stepped up. We're finally getting everyone healthy and I'm glad the girls got this one. They deserved it. They locked down on defense and this shows what they can do when that happens. They just have to start believing in that."

Thompson enjoyed her fourth game with 20 or more points.

"She's a great player," Naughton said. "You really can't stop her with one player."

"I thought Taylor had a real nice night," Barreiro added. "Her teammates did a nice job of feeding her the ball and she did a nice job around the basket and pulling down rebounds. I thought Tori (Meyer) and Shanna (Turczynski) played well on defense."

Turczynski, a sophomore added 10 points while classmate Anna Mae King had 6.

The Fillies (4-8, 2-2) were 10-of-19 at the free throw line.

"That certainly didn't help," Barreiro said. "We talked quite a bit before the game about their 3-point shooters and not giving up open looks, But that's exactly what hurt us in the fourth quarter. We just had a letdown in focus coupled with some youth.

"Ultimately, we have to do what it takes in the fourth quarter to finish the game and we didn't tonight. We'll take this game and learn from it."