Warriors hold off Wildkits' late surge

Maine West girls basketball coach Derril Kipp wondered after Friday's game against Evanston if his team was playing "not to lose" in the final quarter.

If it was, it did a good job.

Because the Warriors still won 42-41 over an Evanston team which was down 41-32 with less than three minutes to go in the second-round game of the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.

The Wildkits (3-2, 1-1) pulled to within 41-39 when senior forward Kim Davis charged the lane for a 7-foot bank shot with 58 seconds left to cap a 7-0 run.

West's Colleen Vana made a free throw to make it 42-39 with 56 seconds left. The West defense then held off the Wildkits until giving up a layup by Davis with three seconds left.

West (4-0, 2-0) didn't inbound the ball with Evanston out of timeouts.

Davis scored 19 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, which helped the Wildkits rally from a 23-12 halftime deficit. Davis also led Evanston with 8 rebounds.

"We almost played as perfect defense as we could have in the first half," Kipp said. "But Kim Davis, who is a terrific offensive player, started driving on us and converting free throws (5-of-7)."

Mary Kusner led West with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots while Brittany Begrowicz added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Vana (5 assists, 3 rebounds) helped keep the Warriors poised while Evanston made its late charge.

"We just had too many stupid fouls and we have to make sure we don't foul and give the other team easy shots," she said. "Evanston is tough. Darcel Retregae can score outside (one 3 -pointer, 5 points) and Kim Davis is tough to defend inside.

"We just have to try and stay under control when teams are rallying on us. This gives us confidence in the fact that we still won."

Two free throws by Erin Baumstark (5 assists, 2 rebounds) gave West a 23-12 lead at the break. Evanston pulled to within 31-27 after thee quarters.

Sophomore Samantha Acosta (8 points) had West's only buckets in the third quarter as she hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second putting her team up 29-21.

Junior Collier Clegg added 13 points and 4 rebounds for Evanston.

"Maine West is a solid team," said Evanston coach Steve Wool, whose coaching staff includes former Bears and Northwestern receiver D'Wayne Bates. "They get great post play from Begrowicz and Kusner. They are tough players. They really work on offense and get the ball inside.

"We knew that coming in and tried to make the adjustments to pressure them more on the outside so they couldn't get it inside."

Stevenson 49, Hersey 45: With a pair of freshmen scoring nearly half of its 20 points in the final quarter, Stevenson posted its first win of the season Friday at the Maine West Tip-Off Classic.

Anna Morrissey, who scored a game-high 13 points, and Michelle O'Brien (7) combined for 9 of the Patriots' 20 points in the final eight minutes as they rallied from 9-point deficit with less than six minutes to play.

Stevenson took the lead for good when Morrissey sank a pair of free throws for a 44-43 lead with 1:28 left.

Senior Monica Pawlus and junior Kayla Fisher each added 2 more free throws and Claire Moller (2 assists) netted one in the final 46 seconds as the Pats pulled out a 49-45 triumph over Hersey.

"Anna Morrissey (5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) and Michelle O'Brien (4 rebounds, 3 steals) are starting to get a better feel for things," said Stevenson coach Trish Betthauser, whose team is 1-2 and 1-1.

"They're starting to understand the pace of a varsity basketball game. They're both very athletic and I thought this was a breakout game for both of them."

Bank shots by Emma Kuhns and Amanda Slove gave Hersey a 38-29 lead with 6:33 left but the Patriots were able to slowly cut into the lead, getting a few buckets off their defensive pressure.

"We were able to put pressure on them at the end and get turnovers," Betthauser said. "We've been able to put pressure on teams but we haven't been converting the turnovers for points. This game, we were able to do that."

Pawlus scored all 4 of her points in the final quarter.

Fisher added 12 points for the Patriots while Chelsea Jacobsen chipped in 6.

Hersey (0-3, 0-2) was led by senior Sarah Stoltzner's 14 points while Julia Fredin (3 rebounds) and Amanda Slove each chipped in 8.

"We need to improve our offensive rebounding," said Stoltzner, who also had 2 steals and an assist. "We've finally got all our players back and healthy. Hopefully, we can get on a roll."

Hersey assistant coach Julia Barthel, filling in for head coach Mary Fendley who was attending her grandmother's funeral out of state, said the Huskies hurt themselves by allowing transition buckets.

"We did not recover in our zone press," she said. "We left post players with 2-on-1 situations and that hurts."

But Barthel is already encouraged by the Huskies' progress.

"I think we've looked better every game," she said. "Game experience will only help us. I would not want to play us later in the season.

"It will just take some time for everyone to learn to play with each other. It is an extremely competitive group."

Sophomore Kelly Rogowski played her first game of the season but experienced some foul trouble which kept her sidelined for several minutes.

"It didn't help having Kelly have to sit in her first game," Barthel added. "We're trying to get her going and that just kind of slowed things down for her.

"I like the mix we have now, though, with our seniors back and our competitive young kids."

Freshman Megan Rogowski added 4 assists and 2 steals for Hersey while Maggie Tunney had 3 assists.