Maine W. can't stop Marian
Facing the No. 3 team in Class 4A without three-time all-area selection Brittany Begrowicz, Maine West's girls basketball team was dealt a mighty challenge Saturday afternoon against Marian Catholic.
Trailing by 15 early in the third quarter, the Warriors produced a big rally to close to within 4 points of the highly-touted Spartans with 3:25 left in the period.
However, Marian Catholic (6-0) answered with a 9-2 run to close the period and never looked back in a 49-32 triumph. Marian claimed a third straight title at the Maine West Tip-Off Classic in Des Plaines.
"I thought we had a chance when we pulled to within 4," said Warriors senior guard Colleen Vana, a second-team all-tourney selection who handed out 7 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds.
"We worked a lot on their 1-2-2 trap and I was happy with how we broke it. That's why they switched to a zone. They've got some big people inside and they can shoot outside. So we had to do our best to block everyone out, try to get the rebound and fast break."
Without Begrowicz, who's recovering from tendonitis which required ACL surgery in July, rebounding and defense became more difficult for the Warriors.
Warriors senior forward Mary Kusner, a first team all-tourney selection, did a superb job picking up the slack for her missing frontline line partner by collecting 14 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
"Mary was playing like an all-stater," said Warriors coach Derril Kipp, whose team slipped to 6-2. "She did a great job. But it just came down to them having better players from the No. 3 to 10 spots and they took advantage of that."
The top player for the Spartans was heavily recruited 5-7 junior guard and Kaila Turner, who scored a game-high 17 points and was named tourney MVP.
"She got by us a few times and made some really nice moves," Kipp said. "They have several great weapons but Kaila kind of controls things. She was the MVP."
Marian Catholic also received 10 points from 6-foot-2 junior forward Mallory Eggert.
"They're the complete package," Kipp said of the Spartans, who play in the East Suburban Catholic Conference with state-ranked Fenwick. "They have everything it takes to win a state title if they play together and don't make mistakes. They played real well together against us."
The Warriors jumped ahead early when Samantha Acosta (6 points) hit a 3-pointer less than 10 seconds into the game.
Two free throws by Erin Baumstark (9 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds) gave the hosts a 5-2 lead before the Spartans went on a 7- 0 run to grab the lead for good at 9-5 with 4:36 left in the first period.
"With Brittany, we could have done a lot better," Kipp said. "We're going to our sixth, seventh and eighth players, and we're not as experienced as them when we get that deep. They have 10 really good players.
"I'm proud of my kids. I thought they handled the pressure pretty well. We just had a few breakdowns in the fourth quarter and they got past us for baskets."
Sophomore Ellen Coogan, who started in place of Begrowicz, pulled down 2 rebounds.
"We just didn't want to take a chance with Brittany playing," said Kipp about sitting his standout for the game. "She didn't play much against Mother McAuley (in a loss) on Friday night either.
"It cost us a little in that game and really hurt us (Saturday), especially defensively. She's played our defense for three years and knows it so well. You have to be pretty smart to play it. There were some openings without Brittany there."
Spartans coach Annie Basic, a former player at Marian Catholic, was impressed by the Warriors.
"I think they do a fantastic job for what they have," she said. "Derril does a great job. They did a great job boxing out. We were one shot and done in the start of that third quarter. And we had poor shot selection. They did a real job on us."
Hersey 51, Washington 48: Converting 5 of 6 free throws in the final 37 seconds, Hersey was able to hold off Washington in the final-round game of the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.
The victory gave Hersey (2-5) its second straight win in the Classic.
Sophomore Kelly Rogowski (17 points, 3 assists) hit 2 free throws to give the Huskies a 48-44 lead with 37 seconds left.
Washington cut it to 2 before second team all-tourney selection Megan Rogowski (10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists) hit both free throws with 20 seconds left to put her team up 50-46.
Washington converted a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining to cut the deficit back to 2 points (50-48) before a Rogowski free throw made it 51-48 with 3.5 seconds left for the final margin.
All-tourney first-team selection Sarah Stoltzner had another fine game with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.
Huskies coach Mary Fendley praised the work of Emma Kuhns and Amanda Slove.
"Although it may not have shown up as much in the box score, Emma and Amanda really made a difference in getting us the rebounds or driving to the basket," she said. "They did a really nice job."
Kuhns finished with 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assists while Slove had 7 points, 2 assists and a rebound.
Washington rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to take a 41-40 lead with four minutes left.
Moments later, Slove went one-on-one on her defender for a layup to break a tie with under two minutes to go.
Sophomore Julia Fredin pulled down 5 rebounds for the Huskies.
Elk Grove 55, Glenbrook North 46: Ashley Capotosto scored a game-high 25 points with 10 rebounds to help the Grens in a nonconference victory.
Olivia Roback scored 8 points and had 4 assists and 6 steals for Elk Grove (5-3), while Kayla Mahoney had 9 point and Meagan Amann contributed 5 rebounds.
Wheeling 58, St. Viator 35: Lana Rukavina (22 points, 9 rebounds), Ashley Wilson (10 points, 5 rebounds) and Nicole Schroeder (career-high 9 points off the bench) were top scorers for host Wheeling (7-1) as coach Shelly Wiegel played all 14 girls available in the nonconference game.
Janelle Cannon collected 5 points, 4 steals and 3 assists while Lindsey Mills added 5 rebounds and 5 points for the winners.
St. Viator (1-5) was led by sophomore Susan Hohenadel's 8 points.