Warren girls basketball Blue Devil Classic
Wheeling junior Ashley Wilson was not going to come out of Friday night's championship game of the Blue Devil Classic against host Warren.
Not that it would be a shock that one of the Wildcats' best players would want to. Combine that with the fact that Illinois-bound senior Lana Rukavina was in Croatia visiting her family and it's easy to see why Wilson wasn't coming off the floor.
It was a good thing for the Wildcats that she didn't.
Wilson scored 7 of her team-best 13 points in the final quarter, and Wheeling held off a furious comeback from Warren to hand the Devils their first loss of the season 47-44.
It is the second title in three years for Wheeling (17-2) and the first with Wilson on the team.
"I wasn't playing well (in the first half), but I was not coming out of the game," Wilson said. "I know that for us to be successful I had to play better and that is what I went out and tried to do."
Wheeling found itself staring at a 32-28 deficit to start the fourth quarter, but that mattered little to Wilson.
She scored the first 2 buckets on driving layups, but it was her feed on a driving layup by Stephanie Kuzmanic that helped the Wildcats take the lead for good 35-34.
"I think we all knew that we needed Ashley to come up big in the second half and she did," said Wheeling coach Shelly Wiegel. "(Ashley) has all the stats you want, but it's the other things she brings to the floor that you really don't see in the box score."
The lead grew to 42-34 with 2:22 to play before Warren started its frantic comeback.
"(Warren) is a good team and we knew they weren't going away even when we were up," Wilson said.
Warren (15-1) didn't go away and it certainly helped that senior Shana Shepherd, saddled with foul trouble most of the second half, was on the floor.
Shepherd was deadly from behind the 3-point line -- and it brought Warren back.
The first bomb came with 1:17 to play and cut the lead to 43-39. Then a steal and tip pass by Shepherd led to a bucket by Kristin Mierzejewski and all of the sudden the Devils were within 43-41.
"I was just hoping that we would pull this one out," said Shepherd, who led Warren with 18 points. "The shots were going in, but it just wasn't meant to be I guess."
Shepherd nailed one more long 3 with a little help from the backboard to cut the margin to 45-44 with 38.4 second left. But 2 turnovers by Warren in the final 16 seconds sealed it for Wheeling.
"It never feels good to lose in at home in the championship game of your own tournament," said Warren coach John Stanczykiewicz. "This just shows us that we have some things to work on and we will get back at it."
Stanford-bound senior Sarah Boothe added 14 points for Warren to go with 11 rebounds and 8 blocked shots. Janelle Cannon chipped in 11 points for Wheeling.
Grayslake C. 51, Niles N. 14: The Rams snapped a four-game losing streak thanks to a great defensive effort and picked up their first win at Warren.
Rachel Culp led Grayslake Central (4-10) with 13 points, while Laura Stark added 9. Megan LeBaron chipped in 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Carmel 39, Deerfield 36: Tiffany Hendrickson and Erin Glogovsky each had 12 points, and Aubrey Simmons added 10, as the Corsairs concluded the Warren tournament with a 3-2 record.
Carmel (9-7 overall) finished third.
Deerfield received 12 points from Dani Ripkey and 10 from Colleen Forrest.