Wachal wills Conant past Palatine
Two days after her 34 points weren't enough in a tough 4-point loss against Barrington, Conant junior Jorie Wachal was motivated that much more when she stepped on the court against Palatine on Thursday night.
"I like having to be there for my team, especially after Tuesday's game when we couldn't close it out," Wachal said. "We used that tough loss to pull this one out at the end."
And it was Wachal who personally pulled it out, hitting a driving 10-foot floater near the baseline to give the Cougars a 41-40 lead with 21 seconds left.
Palatine had a chance to tie but junior Brit Laskero intercepted the Pirates' entry pass with six seconds left. Laskero quickly dished the ball off to Wachal, who was immediately fouled.
Wachal hit both 2 free throws with 3.2 seconds, and when Palatine missed on a 45-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer, visiting Conant secured a 43-40 triumph in the Mid-Suburban West thriller.
"A classic Mid-Suburban West girls basketball division game," said Palatine coach Mark Johnson. "Hard fought, and both teams fighting tooth and nail to the finish.
"It came down to that one possession and Wachal hit a big-time shot to beat us. Reggie (Much) was right on her hip. Honestly, I thought we defended her well the whole game with Reggie and Carrissa (Multon). She is just good."
Wachal finished with a game-high 27 points, including 11-of-12 free throws. She had all of Conant's baskets in the final period, except for a free throw by Laskero.
"It was our second game in three days we had an emotional one on Tuesday," said Cougars coach Deirdre Naughton. "But Jorie found another gear and put the team on her back. That's Jorie."
"She just stays calm under pressure," said senior teammate Karli Heneghan. "She does a good job for us."
Ashley Shapiro made a nifty fake to her left then went right to hit an 8-footer in the lane providing Palatine a 33-30 lead with 5:27 left.
Wachal answered with a 3-pointer to tie the game with 5:03 left.
The next basket didn't come until Elena Porrata made a great t baseline drive for a 6-footer to put the hosts back in front 35-33 with 3:05 left.
"Brit (Laskero) had her hands full guarding No. 11 (the 5-foot-2 Porrata)," Naughton said. "And Brit played great defense on that last possession (the big steal)."
Wachal answered Porrata's bucket with her second 3-pointer to make it 36-35 with 3:10 left.
Two more free throws by Wachal and one by Laskero put Conant (9-13, 3-5) on top 39-35 with 59.9 seconds left.
But Much came up with a huge 3-pointer from deep on the baseline to get Palatine within 39-38 with 50.6 seconds left.
"She's (Much, who guarded Wachal) strong and matched up well with Jorie," Naughton said. "And Palatine's pressure in the full court was tough. We had to fight through a lot of adversity."
Two free throws by Shapiro with 47.1 seconds gave Palatine its last lead at 40-39 before Wachal hit her big shot.
Then Laskero broke up Palatine's final offensive possession.
"That was a great steal by Brit," said Heneghan, the Cougars' only senior along with Nireet Dhillon, Conant's all-area guard (University of Chicago recruit) who has been sidelined for the season following knee surgery. "We can rely on her and Amanda (Klingsporn) all the time to go up against the other team's quick players.
"This was definitely a big win for us. We really wanted to bounce back after that tough loss on Tuesday."
Sophomore Ania Baker pulled down 9 rebounds in her second varsity game for Conant while Wachal had 6.
Teammate Michelle Benson scored all 7 of her points (one 3-pointer) in the second quarter while sophomore Cate Fitzgerald collected her 5 in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer that gave Conant a 10-5 advantage.
That was the biggest lead by the team in the game.
Palatine (9-14, 1-7), which celebrated senior night (Cora Jacobsen, Michala Leber, Sarah Udoni, Ashley Shapiro, Geena Eliades, Allison Rzepka and Multon) was led by Porrata and Much with 10 points each. Multon chipped in 8.
Both teams come back with road games at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday - Palatine at Plainfield East and Conant at Bartlett.