St. Francis endures stressful win over Wheaton Academy

St. Francis coach Jeff Gerdeman knew Friday's game at Wheaton Academy was fun for fans to watch.

His seat in the house was a little warmer.

"Those are the stressful ones," Gerdeman said. "Typical St. Francis-Wheaton Academy game."

Gerdeman's Spartans survived a back-and-forth fourth quarter for a 59-56 Suburban Christian Conference crossover win.

The two teams traded the lead 12 times in the final quarter with 2 ties the biggest lead 3 until Morgan Connelly's two free throws with 36.5 seconds left gave St. Francis (14-10) the lead for good.

"Their kids played tremendous," Gerdeman said of Wheaton Academy. "To be honest they probably deserved to win more than we did. We made some free throws at the end."

A Kelly Nemec 3-pointer with 1:07 left gave Wheaton Academy (7-15) its last lead at 56-54. Kelly Reinke hit two tying free throws for St. Francis, and after a Wheaton Academy missed shot Connelly hit the go-ahead free throws.

Reinke split two free throws with 16.4 seconds left and Wheaton Academy missed a 3-pointer for the tie in the final seconds.

"Disappointing to lose a game like this because I thought we played so well," Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell said. "It was probably our first consistent four quarters of basketball all year. I thought the light bulb kind of went on tonight. Hopefully, we can continue to build from this."

Warriors junior Sarah Drury had 24 points and 8 rebounds going 10 for 10 from the free-throw line. Wheaton Academy, a 47 percent free-throw shooting team coming in, made all 19 of its attempts.

"We've been hounding them about free throws I talk about it every day," Mitchell said. "It paid off tonight.

"Sarah was pretty unconscious tonight. She couldn't miss, and our guards did a good job of getting her the ball. We know she needs to touch the ball."

Despite losing leading scorer Fiona McMahon to two fouls two minutes in, St. Francis rode hot shooting to a 22-12 lead after a period. The Spartans took a 29-24 lead into halftime, with McMahon playing just 2 minutes, 21 seconds of the half.

A Drury three-point play, followed by Drury's bank shot off an inbounds play, gave Wheaton Academy its first lead at 39-38. But two McMahon free throws nudged St. Francis ahead 40-39 heading into the fourth.

Reinke scored 16 points for St. Francis, now 8-4 in games decided by 6 points or fewer. McMahon added 11 points, 9 in the second half, and 7 rebounds, and Connelly 10 points. Allison Witt had 13 points for Wheaton Academy.

"It was a little stressful," Reinke said, "but we've been in a lot of close games this year. We feel like we're pretty prepared. It's nice to come out with a win."