Bartlett upsets Elk Grove for regional championship

Bartlett forward Jacki Gulczynski knew she'd have her hands full Thursday night at the Class 4A Glenbard East regional final.

The junior, along with the rest of her Hawks teammates, had to find a way to defend Elk Grove star post players Courtney Lindfors and Ashley Capotosto.

"You can't stop them," said Gulczynski of the 6-foot-4 Lindfors and 6-foot Capotosto. "But we knew we had to contain them."

The Hawks (20-9), who won for the 11th time in their last 12 games, did that and more, putting forth a strong defensive effort to upset the second-seeded Grenadiers 54-43 and capture the regional championship, their first since 2006 and fourth in program history.

Gulczynski finished with 6 blocked shots, 9 rebounds and 7 points, and sophomore forward Haley Videckis scored 18 points.

"Jacki did a pheonomenal job on defense," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna, "and everybody else picked it up on the boards. We battled and made it a physical game."

Senior Capotosto led Elk Grove (22-7) with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

"We ran into a hot team," said Grens coach Ryan Kirkorsky. "You've got to give them credit - they played a great game."

Foul trouble hurt Elk Grove as well, as Capotosto, Lindfors and senior guard Olivia Roback played most of the fourth quarter with 4 fouls apiece.

Lindfors and Roback both ended up fouling out.

"We had to sit Ashley and Courtney a lot because of fouls," said Kirkosky, "and that hurt us because that's where our offense goes through 90 percent of the time."

Elk Grove trailed by 8 points midway through the fourth quarter. But the Grens made a run, and when Roback (6 points) canned a 3 and Capotosto hit a layup, the Grens were down 44-43 with three minutes left.

But Bartlett's fullcourt press and intense defense, including a couple of key steals by sophomore guard Janessa Baker (8 points), took its toll on the Grens late.

"They did a lot of trapping and changing defenses," said Kirkorsky. "They came out with a lot of pressure and we had a hard time settling down."

Bartlett put the game away at the free-throw line. The Hawks hit 7 straight foul shots down the stretch and were 13 of 16 at the line in the final quarter.

Lindfors added 11 points for Elk Grove, while Nicole Beck pitched in with 10 points for Bartlett and Kristin Conniff had 5 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the fourth.

"We knew we could do it," said Gulczynski, "but we had to stay physical. We stepped it up on defense and at the free-throw line, and we got them into foul trouble, which helped at the end."

"We came out with a lot of energy, especially in the second half," Baker said. "They had a lot big girls, so we tried to keep running them. We were pumped up and ready to fight to the end."