Wildcats handle tough situations

Bridgette Gray initially wanted no part of the celebration Thursday night.

Gray and some of her Wheeling teammates raced away from the fray as their classmates stormed onto the court after the Class 4A girls basketball sectional championship at Barrington.

But the 5-foot-5 Gray decided she couldn't just watch from a distance. She eventually sprinted back and jumped into the impromptu mosh pit.

"Experience," Gray said with a laugh of her wise postgame decision-making. "When we won the regional and won all these games, they were just killing us at the end."

It was experience that led to a killer ending and Wheeling's first girls or boys sectional basketball title with a 57-39 victory over Lake Zurich.

The Wildcats didn't stumble when star guard Janelle Cannon crumpled to the floor in a heap and limped off with a first-quarter injury in a tie game.

They didn't crumble when Lake Zurich roared back to cut a 13-point deficit to just 2 points late in the third quarter.

"I think our experience from the last few years," said Wheeling junior Stephanie Kuzmanic, "really helped us to prepare for this a lot better."

When Cannon came back into the game after hurting her knee the Wildcats had broken out to a 24-16 lead.

And when Lake Zurich got back into the game at 36-34, Wheeling broke away on an impressive 21-2 tear.

"Maturity and team chemistry," Gray said of Wheeling, which lost to Buffalo Grove in last year's sectional final when Cannon was injured. "Our team has great chemistry."

It showed when Cannon went out as Kuzmanic, who scored 12 points in one of her best games of a 31-1 season, hit a 3-pointer to give Wheeling a lead it never lost.

Junior Selma Smajlovic came in for Cannon. Smajlovic had a big offensive rebound to set up Bianca Szafarowicz's 3 and got a backdoor layup on Ashley Wilson's feed.

"I was concerned when she was hurt," Kuzmanic said. "But we knew we had to step up and try to fill in for her."

Then Lake Zurich stormed back to within 2 points as Lydia Bauer hit a 3 and Ashley Bauer scored in close. The big crowd was rocking in anticipation to see how one of the state's best teams would respond.

Kuzmanic calmly sliced from the right wing into the lane to score. At the other end she blocked a shot, kept possession and it led to Cannon's rebound basket.

The Bears would score only once more before beating the final buzzer with a 3. They committed 8 fourth-quarter turnovers while Wheeling had only two in the decisive run.

"We still kept our composure," Gray said. "We talked about keeping up our defense. Defense wins games."

If the Wildcats win one more they'll be packing for Normal. And Gray knows from experience how to handle the joy and avoid the potential pain of an even bigger celebration.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com