Rosary 58, Driscoll 48

Early in the second quarter, with Driscoll leading the Suburban Catholic Conference showdown in Aurora 15-13, Rosary's Katie Petrando hit a pair of free throws, then swiped a pass and converted the steal into a layup.

The 4-point swing triggered an 11-0 run, and the Royals led the rest of the way, en route to a 58-48 win.

"We all needed to step up, and that felt great," Petrando said.

The first time the two teams played this season, Rosary escaped with a narrow win after Driscoll's Gigi DiGrazia nearly brought her team back with her outside shooting. With that still in the back of their minds, the Royals bottled up the perimeter and forced the Highlanders to work for every shot.

"We knew we had to work together as a team on defense tonight," Rosary's Victoria Alvarez said.

Rosary's Jordan Rettig battled Courtney Lindfors in the low post all night, but she had help. The Royals showed their depth as Kylie Schalz and Katie Eckberg joined Rettig to keep a fresh defender on Lindfors all game long.

"We needed to play a team game, and have other kids, not just Alvarez and Rettig, step up," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said.

Those other players included Petrando, who scored 10 points, and led all players with 12 rebounds.

"I just had to stay tough down low," Petrando said. "We needed to make sure they didn't get second chances."

The two teams were tied 13-13 after one quarter, but Rosary took a 30-23 lead at the half.

"In the first half we were a little out of synch," Driscoll coach Steve McCuiston said. "We lost our poise a little bit, and that was out of character for us."

The Highlanders (14-3, 5-2) went on the offensive at the start of the third quarter, and benefited from a faster tempo. They quickly cut the deficit to 36-33, and seemed to have momentum on their side. But that's as close as Driscoll would get.

"Rosary has a lot of weapons, and they used them very well tonight," McCuiston said.

Faith Jones was Rosary's most effective weapon at crunch time. The senior hit a 3-pointer to give her team a bit of cushion, again, and scored 9 of her 11 points in the second half.

"Once I made that shot it gave us some momentum," Jones said.

By the end of the third quarter the Royals had re-established the same 7-point lead they held at the break. It was full speed ahead for Rosary after Alvarez scored off a steal with 6:10 to go in the game, giving the Royals a 48-38 lead.

Rettig scored 15 for the Royals (15-4, 7-1), Alvarez added 13 points and 5 steals, while Jones pulled down 9 boards.

Lindfors led all scorers with 18, and also had 11 rebounds, DiGrazia scored 12, and Allie DiVito scored 8.