Girls basketball: Bradarich’s season high helps Conant get past Palatine
Kanna Bradarich says she may study business in college.
After picking up her third foul with 5:51 left in the third quarter, the senior guard was certainly all business for her Conant's girls basketball team on Friday night at Palatine.
With her team nursing a 28-23 lead, Bradarich actually went into attack mode after her third foul, scoring 12 of her season-high 19 points to help lead the Cougars (12-10, 5-3) to a 48-45 triumph over the Pirates (13-12, 4-4) in a Mid-Suburban League West game.
"There have been a lot of situations this season where I've been in foul trouble and I just try to make sure I don't make any more dumb fouls when I get to that point," said Bradavich, whose career-high 20 points came as a junior. "I just start thinking I've got to be more cautious and be aware of where I am and where my defender is."
"It's nice to see her when she gets into that attacking mode and playing aggressive," said Cougars coach Todd Strauch. "I don't think she liked that last foul call (the third) and that put her into the attack mode. I might just pretend to call fouls on her all the time just to get her into that mode."
The Cougars were in an incredible 3-point shooting mode in the first half when they tossed home eight (season-high 10 for the game), accounting for 24 of their 28 points.
Junior guard Gianna Fresso (11 points) had three of them while Olivia Hagler had two. Bradavich, Arianna Dugo and Madyson Biedke had the others as the Cougars led 28-20 at the break.
"That was crazy," Bradarich said of the 3-point barrage. "Coach just said shoot with confidence before the game. I'm really proud of how our team shot the ball. We really emphasized shooting with confidence so I'm glad we hit all those."
Palatine senior Jas Evans hit her second 3-pointer at the start of the second half to get Palatine to within 28-23. A free throw by Molly Pieper (11 points) closed the deficit to 30-26 with 1:35 left in the third period but a layup by Kate Jenrick off a steal and assist from Fresso followed by a terrific driving bank scoop by Bradarich gave Conant a 34-26 lead after three quarters.
"Kanna is really an awesome all-around basketball player," Strauch added. "She is extremely smart. She handles the ball well, passes it very well and we rely on her to do that 99% of the time. And she can really shoot the ball."
Palatine outscored Conant 19-14 in the final quarter, coming to within the final score when Elisa Martino tossed home a 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Pirates sophomore Grace Kline (team-high 13 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Halle Onyekonwu added 9 points for the hosts.
"Conant came out ready to play," said Palatine coach Sarah Davis, who was without senior Addyson Dersnah (knee). "They shot the ball extremely well. They ran their 1-3-1 defense very well and we didn't shoot the ball very well. Unfortunately, going 8 for 19 at the free-throw line didn't help either.
"It was an emotionally tough loss. Conant played great, They came out with some high energy and we just couldn't come back from the 17-9 deficit after one quarter."
Conant dropped a 46-29 decision to Palatine on Jan 7.
"We've lost two players to ACL injuries since then," said Bradarich, who is unsure where she will attend college but does not plan to play basketball. "It's been really hard without them but we've been working really hard in practice to make up for their loss. This is a real good win for us."
Strauch said the Cougars' eight 3-pointers in the game's first 13 minutes were the most by any of his Conant teams in seven seasons.
"That's part of the way we want to play," Strauch said about the long-range bombs. "We work hard in the off-season on our shooting to get in the game and shoot with confidence. We get away from that sometimes but we just tell them to keep shooting with confidence. And they were catching and shooting tonight and knocking them down."