Kosner, Aurora Central pull out win over St. Edward
"You've got to make your free throws" is one of basketball coaches' mantras.
Aurora Central Catholic struggled at the free-throw line against visiting St. Edward in a Saturday matinee.
The Chargers missed their first six free throws and finished the day sinking only five of 18 charity tosses.
However, ACC converted when it counted. Trailing the Green Wave, 49-48 with 44.2 seconds left in the game, Charger Delani Kosner canned two attempts to put her team in front for good in a 52-49 Metro Suburban Conference win.
"We shoot like 50% on free throws," ACC coach Levada Smith said. "But when we need them like at crunchtime, they will start knocking them down."
ACC led 40-36 to start the fourth quarter.
The Chargers widened their lead to 45-36 at the 6:49 mark of the period on an Amanda Bricco 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The Green Wave then went on a 13-3 run, 10 on free throws. Ariann Franco capped the rally with two charity tosses to put St. Edward back on top 49-48 with 53.4 seconds left. The lead was short-lived as Kosner sank her free throws on ACC's next possession.
"Yes there was pressure but I tried not to think about it and just went up there and shot it," Kosner said about the free throws. "We wanted to get this win. We just had two losses."
While besting ACC (9-12, 5-3) at the free-throw line, making 12 of 21 attempts, St. Edward's second half field goal shooting turned the tide for the Chargers.
The Green Wave connected on 12 of 27 (44%) shots from the field in the first half and held a 28-27 at halftime era.
St. Edward (7-17, 1-8) went cold in the second half making only 4 of 24 shots (16%).
"You add up a couple of little things in this game that would have made a difference and one of things had to be our shooting percentage in the second half," St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. "I think a lot of shots we were taking were good shots in the frame work of our offense. We just weren't hitting them for some reason. They were falling in the first half."
Kosner did more that sink clutch free throws. The Kirkwood College bound senior scored a game-high 21 points, snared 13 rebounds and blocked six shots.
"We definitely needed the victory. This was our third game this week and we should of won those two games but we didn't," Smith said. "It was good to see the girls come out and play all 32 minutes and play good team defense."
Brooke Biggins led the Green Wave offense with 15 points. Teammates Sam Ottinger (11 points) and Mia Castro (10 points) also scored in double digits.
Catherine Klein notched 10 points for ACC.