Palatine closes out Maine West

For a season opener, this was all about closing.

Palatine’s girls basketball team trailed visiting Maine West 34-33 with 1:57 left in the third quarter.

But the Pirates’ defense limited the Warriors to 1 free throw the rest of the game en route to a 55-35 triumph.

Junior guard Nia Pappas’ driving layup made it 35-34, sparking the 22-1 game-finishing run for the hosts, who defeated West in a season-opener for the second straight season.

The 5-foot-6 Pappas and 5-10 senior forward Katelyn Meyer, who played only 19 minutes because of foul trouble, both scored 13 points to pace the Pirates, who led 24-22 at the break thanks a 3-pointer by junior McKenzie Wiedemann (7 points).

“Their point guard (Pappas) controlled the whole game,” said Warriors Hall of Fame coach Derril Kipp. “She is a terrific player. Once we fell behind, we couldn’t do anything. We didn’t run the offense. We didn’t get the ball inside anymore.”

Mayer did a nice job getting inside when she was on the floor. She picked up 2 fouls in the first three minutes and did not return until the second half, when she scored all 13 of her points.

“It was really frustrating on the bench,” Mayer said. “But I had all kinds of energy in the second half. We all just started communicating on defense and everyone was fired up.”

“For Katelyn to be out for 13 minutes in the first half and for us to hang in there, I was pretty happy,” said Pirates coach Leslie Schock, who is assisted by her father Ed and Bill LePage. “I know what Katelyn is capable of doing offensively. You saw that in the second half. She has speed. She has power. Watching her play is very exciting.”

It was an exciting first 24 minutes as the two teams traded baskets quite often.

Senior guard Amanda Hoye (9 points, 4 assists, 2 steals) scored 7 straight points for West midway through the third quarter. She hit a 3-pointer and two 17-footers as the Warriors led 32-31.

Freshman Monica Masini (8 points in her varsity debut) took a perfect lob pass from Mayer and tossed in a layup which gave Palatine a 33-32 lead.

“It took Monica some time in the first half to figure things out,” Schock said. “She played much better defense in the second half. Brittany Collins (Maine West’s sophomore all-area forward) is a ton. She is going to be one of the best post players we face.”

Collins (16 points in the first half) scored her 20th point for West’s last basket and last lead at 34-33.

Pappas came right back and gave the Pirates the lead for good with her layup at the 1:52 mark of the third quarter.

Moments later, Pirates sophomore guard Morgan Radtke hit a 3-pointer for a 38-34 advantage.

“That was the big shot of the game,” Kipp said of Radtke’s long-range bucket. “That made the big difference.”

Pappas followed with a 17-footer from the baseline, then Mayer made two nice moves to the basket for layups in the final 37 seconds of the third quarter for a 44-34 lead.

“We are just playing so much better as team,” Pappas said. “We played as hard as we could and we are playing together.”

Senior Julie Johlie added 6 points for the Pirates and Laura Schweikert 3.

“At half, we really talked about playing defense,” Schock said. “ The only girl we really had playing defense with a sense of purpose was Katie Burke.

“We were playing individual defense in the first half. In the second half, we played team defense.”

Collins also grabbed 8 rebounds for West while senior Megan John and sophomore Julia Huinker each had 4.