Wagner sparks IC Catholic Prep

Double, double, toil and trouble.

At least that was the case for the IC Catholic Prep girls basketball team's nonconference opponent Thursday night, Richmond-Burton.

The Rockets traveled a long way only to watch Knights sophomore forward Claire Wagner rack up 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 59-45 ICCP victory.

How dominant was Wagner? Of her team's 21 field goals, she had 12. She scored 10 points in the first quarter to give her team a 16-8 lead at its conclusion, then rallied the Knights during a sluggish third quarter with 9.

That set the stage for a final period that saw coach Todd Fisher's group reel off a 19-2 run to end the game. In that spurt Wagner had 4 points, while junior Alia Johnson stationed herself in the lane for 8 easy points.

But wait, there's more. The IC Catholic Prep football team got knocked out of the IHSA state playoffs by Richmond-Burton back in November. So was Thursday's win a little measure of payback?

"I think so," Wagner said. "We wanted payback but also we still played our game and still fought. It was a normal game where we had to fight."

Fight the Knights did, especially in that big fourth quarter. Hard to believe ICCP was down 43-40 in the first minute of the period, but then the Knights got going, and they did it all with 2-point field goals, typically down low, along with five free throws. In other words no 3-pointers.

But there was a defensive piece, too. Rockets senior guard Peyton Bannon came into the game averaging 19.3 points a game, and while she scored 21, she only had one bucket in that crucial fourth quarter.

"We started out a little rough, but we just knew we had to end the game on a strong foot," Johnson said. "I think we really worked together at the end."

Rebounding was also important for ICCP (14-10). The Knights outrebounded the Rockets 35-14 and in the process grabbed 16 on the offensive end, providing second and sometimes third shot attempts.

ICCP coach Todd Fisher won his 403rd game, and while he was pleased with the outcome, he could have done without the middle two periods.

"We had a good first quarter, we had a good fourth quarter," Fisher said. "We made too many too mistakes in that second quarter. We stalled ourselves by turning the ball over, we had seams to attack and shots to take and we didn't take them."

But the flip side was Wagner's highlight-reel performance.

"She's a versatile player," Fisher said. "She can knock down 3s, as she did today. She can attack the basket. She's a back-to-the-basket person, too. We could post her up and maybe we should have tried her inside a little bit, too. She had a monster game."

Johnson finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds, while junior forward Gia Gaudio added 11.