Best gift for seniors: St. Viator climbs above .500

St. Viator's Jenna Breslin, Sarah Schade and Melissa Cortese received their parting gifts for Senior Night before Wednesday's girls basketball game at the Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

Then they went out and helped the Lions secure a 59-23 victory over Marengo that lifted the Lions above .500 (13-12) for the first time this season.

"That's the best gift we could have gotten," said Breslin, who executed her role perfectly with 13 rebounds and 7 points, that included a pair of putbacks. "It was really a fun night. Everyone did an incredible job organizing it, and then it was great to go above. 500."

Not bad for a Class 3A team playing a schedule loaded with 4A teams.

"It's crazy that we go above .500 on Senior Night," said Schade, who felt right at home with a career-high 8 points, all in the second half. "It was really a great night - exactly what we wanted."

Marengo coach Nick Rode had plenty of praise for the Lions.

"That's a good team" said Rode, whose team (9-14) was led by talented sophomore guard Marissa Knobloch, who scored 13 points with three 3-pointers.

"They share the ball very well and play with a lot of energy. They keep the ball alive with a lot of offensive rebounds. Even if they miss their first shots, they get more opportunities.

"And that No. 2 (junior Olivia Solimene) can get into the gaps. She draws the attention and then kicks the ball out to her teammates. They have a lot of possessions where you are trying to recover on defense."

St. Viator recovered from a 2-1 deficit by reeling off 12 straight points to lead 13-2 after one quarter.

Lions coach Jason Raymond played 15 girls, with 12 scoring including Michaela Mueller (11 points), Solimene (8) and Myia Clark (7).

After her sister had already scored her 8 points. junior Katherine Schade gave the family two members in the scoring column when she delivered her first 3-pointer of the season with 3:51 left in the game.

Also scoring for Viator were Haley Robinson, Maddie Fitzpatrick, Carrie Leazer, Katie Krzoska, Rebecca Wolf and Elise Horbach.

Although she may not have scored, student assistant Cortese plays a key role for the team.

"Melissa played for us last year but decided not to play this season," Raymond said. "She's a great kid. She does videos for us. She keeps scoring for us in practice where we do different drills and give points for things like turnovers deflections and other things. It's just a lot of crazy scoring numbers we keep and she handles it so well for us."

Breslin and Sarah Shade will also be missed when they graduate.

"We are blessed to have these three seniors," Raymond added. "Sarah was voted last year to be a co-captain this season. Jenna is a big-time contributor for us on the glass and holding down the post."

The Lions close out the regular season at home next week against Marist (Wednesday) and Wheeling (Thursday).