Antioch holds off St. Edward

Conference play and conference rivalries are busy returning unwanted Christmas gifts and deciding where to go to on New Year’s Eve. But what’s not taking a break is good, exciting and entertaining basketball as the holiday tournaments are in full swing.

A prime example came Tuesday night during the second day of the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic as the Antioch girls basketball team held off the tournament’s top seed, St. Edward, 63-62.

The Sequoits’ Nicole Kelly hit the second of two free-throw attempts with no time left on the clock for the margin of victory.

“I was upset (about missing the first attempt). I wanted to come back and do my best,” said Kelly, who finished with 10 points, one of five Antioch players to score in double digits.

The win pushed Antioch to .500 at 6-6 and put it into a 6:30 p.m. game back at Lisle Wednesday against Walther Lutheran in the semifinals. Meanwhile, St. Edward fell to 10-3 and faces Timothy Christian at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We knew we had to play our game,” Antioch coach Tim Borries said. “And I think we did that for the first three quarters. We were sloppy at the end, but we put it away.”

Andi Potkonjak led Antioch with 14 points. She now needs just 3 points to reach 1,000 career points.

Borries said the obvious focus for the Sequoits’ defense going into the game would have to be the Green Wave’s Callie Johnson (12 points) and Madeline Kerr (2 points, 7 rebounds). But what caught his attention was the game-high 21 points from Vicenza Ranallo’s and 15 points from Rena Ranallo.

The Sequoits looked to be putting the Green Wave in their rearview mirror with 1:16 left in the third quarter as Jessica Ploss sank 2 free throws to give her team its first double-digit lead of the night at 49-39.

St. Edward, however, hit three 3-pointers in the final quarter including two from Vicenza Ranallo, who hit 6 for the game. Her second of the period got her team to within 56-51 with 5:51 left in the game. The Green Wave then went on to score 11 of the game’s next 18 points including Kerr’s 2 free throws with 14.3 seconds left that tied the game at 62.

“The level of intensity (in the fourth quarter) is what we should have had the whole game,” St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. We were ready for this game. Like I said, the defensive intensity we showed late, we should have had the entire game.”