Fenton slips past Timothy Christian

Fenton's girls basketball team is getting an awful lot of experience in late-game pressure situations.

Wednesday night's home game against Timothy Christian came down to the wire in Bensenville, with Fenton eventually squeaking out a 35-33 victory.

For the Bison, Wednesday night marked the third nail-biter they've endured thus far.

"Nothing comes real easy for us," coach Tim Anderson said after the game, finally able to catch his breath and let out a smile. "They've got a lot of resolve, and they've got a tough spirit about them."

For a while the outcome looked bleak for Fenton (3-3). The Bison trailed 28-24 with 4:08 remaining after the Trojans' Katie Dirkse hit a free throw.

Fighting off fatigue, Fenton reached deep down and reeled off a 9-0 run, highlighted by senior Mia Sansone's clutch 3-pointer.

A Sam Rubright free throw with 20 seconds remaining gave the Bison a 2-point advantage. After the Trojans' Shannon McNeil missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Timothy Christian failed several times to put back the layup, giving Fenton the win.

"It's a tough loss for us," Trojans coach Ryan DeKoekkoek said. "We had pretty much two point-blank chances for layups -- one too strong and one was just kind of thrown up."

Despite missing a couple looks at a game-tying basket, DeKoekkoek acknowledged his team's lack of ball control was what ultimately cost them the game.

"We talked about (how) it wasn't the missed free throw and it wasn't the missed layup that we had at the end, it was the 19 turnovers that we had in the first half," he said. "That really hurt us a lot. We didn't take care of the ball … and I think if we took care of the ball better in the first half and really got some good execution, it might've been a different game."

Anderson felt relieved to avoid an overtime period, especially with his team running on tired legs.

"We looked very tired the second half. I think in the first half, even though the score was tight, we were pretty much controlling the tempo with our defense," Anderson said. "Thank God that ball didn't go in, because overtime we would've been in trouble.

"We were on our last legs."

Rubright led all scorers with 10 points, thriving in the pressure-filled atmosphere.

"These are the best kind of games -- when it comes down to the last second and you just have a chance to lift your team up and be a big part of your win," she said.

-- Matthew McClarey

Maine South 58, Prospect 44:ŒHalftime did not stop the surge from a 10-point deficit by the Prospect girls basketball team.

But the Knights' shooting did after they scored 26 seconds into the second half to take a 2-point lead Wednesday night at Jean Walker Field House in Mount Prospect.

From there it was all Maine South as it scored 28 of the next 37 points in a 58-44 nonconference victory.

"We had confidence going into halftime," said Prospect senior Megan Murray, who scored a team-high 10 points. "We thought we could pick up the momentum, but it didn't really happen."

Prospect (7-2) rallied from a 23-13 deficit behind sophomore Rachel Hunt, Danielle Brucci, Murray and Lexi Glennon.

When Alyssa Glennon made a nice bounce pass in traffic to Hunt for a layup the Knights had a 29-27 lead.

"Coach (Mark Smith) said good teams go out and duplicate the second half and great teams go out and take it to them," said Maine South senior guard Michelle Tourtillott. "We executed really well.

"We went out there and played really hard and played really aggressively."

-- Marty Maciaszek

Montini 69, Immaculate Conception 22:ŒMichala Johnson scored 13 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Broncos (4-4, 1-0) in the Suburban Catholic Conference game. Montini led Immaculate Conception (3-6, 0-2) by 38 points at halftime. Twelve Broncos scored in the game.

Boys basketball

St. Francis 67, Marian Central 47: St. Francis (3-1, 1-0) led 39-13 at halftime and weathered Marian Central's 29-point third quarter to win its Suburban Catholic Conference opener in Wheaton, a remake from Saturday's postponed game. Spartans guard Dan McCoy scored a career-high 20 points, followed by Brian McMahon's 15 points and 10 rebounds, 13 points and 6 assists from Jack Purdom and 11 points from Bob Vonderhaar. Marian Central (1-6, 0-2) was led by Jordan Peart's 14 points and 10 apiece from Andrew Stochl and Chris Casey.