Orozco's game-winner lifts Schaumburg past St. Charles East

Most high school athletes have fond memories of their first varsity game.

For Alyssa Orozco, that memory may burn even more brightly.

Orozco, a Schaumburg freshman, had the game-winning basket with 2.5 seconds remaining to give her team a 37-36 girls basketball victory over St. Charles East at the Saxons Thanksgiving tournament Tuesday night.

Schaumburg rallied from 9 points down with 2 minutes left to get the win.

"Feels pretty good," said Orozco of the game-winner. "I was a little nervous, but our coach (Jackie Strauch) told us to just go hard at the end and that's what we did."

St. Charles East played a solid game for more than 3½ quarters but were outscored 14-4 down the stretch.

"It was poor decision making," said Saints coach Aubree Schuett of the final two minutes of play for her team. "We own this one hundred and fifty thousand percent.

"Just a lack of experience and game awareness and making the appropriate decisions, but we'll get better."

The pressure defense of St. Charles East forced Schaumburg into a slew of first half turnovers, as the Saints took a 15-10 lead into the break.

Two third-quarter 3-pointers from Saints freshman Olivia Kiefer helped St. Charles East maintain the lead into the fourth, and when teammate Leah Griffin sank a late free throw, the Saints led 32-23 with two minutes left.

Then Schaumburg made an energetic rally - helped along by 4-of-5 from the line by Ariana Doroskin - to cut the deficit to 36-35.

And with just seconds remaining and Schaumburg in possession of the ball, Orozco took a pass right underneath the basket, calmly took a step back into the paint and sank a layup to give the Saxons the lead.

"The ball was in our hands and Alyssa, our freshman, was able to do it," said Strauch. "They (the Saints) had been playing man the entire game but they slipped into a 1-2-2, and our girls just kind of cut to the basket, they did a back cut. We kind of wanted it (the pass) to come to Alyssa, (Vicky) Aguirre, or Doroskin, but Alyssa got it in her hands and just went for it. She can score."

St. Charles East had one final chance but a half-court heave at the buzzer was just off the mark.

"I thought we handled Schaumburg's pressure pretty well tonight," said Schuett. "That's a good thing to take away from the game."

Saints senior Emily Vitkus had a terrific game with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Kiefer contributed 9 points on 3 3-pointers.

Aguirre, a 6-2 senior center, led the Saxons with 12 points. Orozco scored 10 and Doroskin pitched in with 8.

Junior guard Katie Smith hit a clutch 3-pointer with less than a minute left to help kick-start the Schaumburg comeback.

"We had a lot of turnovers in that first half," said Strauch. "We came out strong in the second half and our defense had no choice but to get up on them and cause some turnovers, and we did. We were able to execute and they missed a few free throws that became advantageous to us."

"We ran the plays that we needed to," added Orozco of the rally. "We made some good passes and made some good shots."