This time, Stevenson runs out of time

After taking it all the way down to the final seconds, Stevenson's girls basketball team came up just a few moments short of gaining the Suburban Holiday Showcase championship for a second straight year.

The Patriots tried to rally from 10 points down in the final 64 seconds. But host Trinity held off Stevenson 45-41 on Wednesday night in River Forest.

"We battled all the way," said Stevenson coach Tom Dineen, whose team dropped to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in the tournament. "We came here for the competition, and we got it over five games. I hate to lose, but we lost to a good ballclub. This should make us better as the season goes on."

Trinity (14-3, 4-1) built a 44-34 lead over the final couple of minutes.

Stevenson rallied with a hard-nosed defensive effort. The Patriots forced a couple of turnovers and scored 7 unanswered points.

Alexandra Elzinga hit a short-jumper, Michelle O'Brien knocked down a 3-pointer and Ashley Niedermayer hit also hit a short-jumper in the spurt, which made the score 44-41 with 10 seconds left.

"Game isn't over until it's over," said O'Brien, who contributed with a team-high 13 points and 8 rebounds. "We're not going to give up. We're just not the type of team to do that."

The Blazers' Taylor Nazon (11 points) hit 1 of 2 free throws with 6 seconds remaining for the 4-point difference.

The Patriots attempted a 3-pointer as time expired; it went off the rim.

Earlier in the third quarter, Trinity built a 6-point advantage at 31-25 with the help of hitting 3 treys with 3:30 remaining. Megan Podkowa (game-high) 15 points) hit one, and Nazon and Alyssa Dengler had the others.

Stevenson managed a run of its own as O'Brien scored 5 points in a 7-point Patriots run that gave them a brief 32-31 lead with1:24 left. Stevenson played the entire third quarter without Anna Morrissey, who sat on the bench in foul trouble.

But the Blazers closed out the quarter with 4 straight points and regained the lead at 35-32.

Trinity came out strong in the final quarter, went on a 9-2 run and extended the lead to 10 at 44-34 heading down the stretch.

"We knew Stevenson would make a run," said Trinity coach Ed Stitzel, whose team has lost to only Whitney Young, Bartlett and Loyola Academy. "Coach Tom Dineen is one of greatest coaches of all time. When they made the run like that, it's hard to sustain it. We wanted to make a run right back at them and took control of the game at that point."