Gaffey comes to Wheaton Academy's rescue

Kate Gaffey called it her best game ever. Wheaton Academy needed it.

Gaffey came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 5 rebounds and the Warriors came from behind to defeat rival St. Francis 50-45 in a Suburban Christian Conference crossover game in Wheaton on Tuesday night.

"I took last year off, so it was kind of my coming out today," the senior said.

Host St. Francis (8-16) held Wheaton Academy to 1-of-11 shooting in the first quarter while getting out to a 12-2 lead on Fiona McMahon's basket with 1:52 left in the period.

"We were very pleased with our start," St. Francis coach Jeff Gerdeman said. "We've only got two weeks left here. We started an all-senior lineup. It's not senior night, but we thought it would be good for them to start all the seniors, and they did a good job."

Gaffey started the second quarter with a three-point play off an offensive rebound, and slowly Wheaton Academy climbed back into the game.

"We looked really uncomfortable at the beginning, and then coach just stuck it to us (at halftime)," Gaffey said of coach Beth Mitchell's pointed halftime talk, "and we were like, All right, we've got to play because we're losing."

The Warriors (17-5) took their first lead of the game at 31-30 when sophomore point guard Sydney Sharkey made a pair of free throws just 13 seconds from the end of the third quarter. St. Francis tied the game at 39 on Katie Slavin's basket with 4:29 to play, but Gaffey hit another putback, then responded to Sarah Torres' 3-pointer with one of her own. Wheaton Academy held the lead the rest of the way.

"(Gaffey) gave us great minutes off the bench," Mitchell said. "I've really got to give her a lot credit because she came in and did some nice things for us. A couple of offensive boards that were buckets for us and of course hitting that one 3 toward the end there was great."

"Shots just started falling and I got more confidence," added Gaffey, who made 4 of her 5 shots. "Then it was just we were down by like (1) and I just said, All right, I'm taking (the 3-pointer)."

Wheaton Academy also benefitted from a big edge at the free-throw line, making 18 of 29 shots. St. Francis went 3 of 4 at the line.

"We had a lot of foul trouble to deal with," Gerdeman said. "We started throwing the ball away a little bit in the second quarter, which hurt us in lost possessions. I'm pleased overall. The kids played their hearts out, which is all we can ask. I wish we had a few possessions back here and there. Things just didn't go our way at the end."

Sharkey led Wheaton Academy with 13 points, 10 of them in the second half. McMahon's 13 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks led St. Francis.