Without star forward Lauren Levine, No. 7 Mother McAuley struggled in a loss to 10th-ranked Lake Zurich on Thursday. Levine sat out Saturday’s GCAC Red road game at Maria, and the results were the same.
Vanessa Zavala had 16 points and hit a layup with 39 seconds left in the game to give the Mystics (7-12, 1-3) the 58-56 upset.
“We practiced like Lauren Levine was going to be in the game and we had a great week of practice,” said Maria coach Rick Federici. “Mother McAuley isn’t just Lauren Levine. [Amy] Harmening and [Jena] Zientek stepped it up. They have a nice team without her and they have to learn to play without her because injuries are part of the game.”
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Maria jumped out to a 7-0 lead and was up by as many as 13 points in the second quarter before settling for a 39-27 halftime lead. The Mighty Macs (13-3, 3-1) rallied and closed the gap to two points after three quarters.
Bridget Boyce, who finished with nine points, gave Mother McAuley its only lead at 55-54 with a three-pointer with 2 minutes 20 seconds remaining.
“We still had a height advantage without Lauren, but they seemed to want the ball more than we did,” said Mother McAuley coach Rick Mundo, who added that he should know the extent of Levine’s knee injury on Monday. “There was definitely some valiance in our comeback. The only problem is, it’s still a loss.”
Harmening had 15 points to lead the Mighty Macs.
Fenwick 95, Joliet Catholic 38: Erin Lawless had 23 points and six rebounds for the No. 2 Friars, which shot 42-of-63 from the floor in the East Suburban Catholic rout. Fenwick (14-1, 3-0) opened a 51-16 halftime lead, which included a 21-0 run. Brigid Liston had 14 points for Fenwick, Kristin Heidloff added 13 points and Margaret Knap and Jackie Konrad had 10 points each. Megan Williams had 10 points for the Angels (7-11, 0-3).
Naperville Central 69, West Chicago 39: The third-ranked Redhawks (16-1, 5-0) cruised in the DuPage Valley as Candace Parker scored a season-high 31 points to go with 15 rebounds and four assists. Lauren Johnson had 12 points for West Chicago (4-14, 1-4).
Benet 67, Providence 60: The No. 20 Redwings (14-6, 4-0) got the edge in the East Suburban Catholic behind Jenny Callan’s 17 points and Jordan Wilson’s 14 points. Colleen Kavanagh’s 12 points paced Providence.
Dundee-Crown 50, Crystal Lake South 41: Felicia Tarrant scored 14 points to go with Angela Cerrito’s 12 points as the Chargers (10-6, 5-3) won in the Fox Valley.
Elmwood Park 49, Kaneland 45: Ashley Obrest had 27 points to lead the Tigers.
Lisle 43, Immaculate Conception 30: Tammy Burris put in 12 points to lead Lisle (10-7).
Nazareth 73, Bishop McNamara 45: Nicole Baich’s 15 points, Jenny Stinich’s 14 and Sarah McNicholas’ 13 led Nazareth (15-4, 2-2) to an East Suburban Catholic rout.
Naperville North 46, Wheaton North 34: The Huskies (9-8, 3-1) road Jackelyn Diekemper’s 11 points and Sarah Lenert’s 10 points to the DuPage Valley win.
Northside Prep 71, Good Counsel 61: Natalie Pedroza had 20 points and Siobhan Pangerl added 19 for Northside Prep (7-6).
Plainfield 60, Oswego 30: Heather Furr had 23 points to lead Plainfield to the Suburban Prairie Red win.
Trinity 86, Mother Guerin 47: Katie Jarger had 24 points and Alison Sansone had 21 points and 15 assists as Trinity (16-3, 4-0) rolled in the GCAC White.
Rockford Lutheran 46, Wheaton Academy 45: Stephanie Raymond had 13 points and Kacie Taylor hit a layup with 2 seconds left to give the Lady Crusaders (13-3) the win. Wheaton Academy (11-5) held an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Raymond had five points in an 8-0 run that tied the game at 37. Kaila Kamerlander had 19 points to lead the Warriors.
St. Benedict 52, Notre Dame 45: Ashley Bailey and Jill Hohenadel scored 12 points apiece for the Bengals (5-13). Jennifer Davis’ 18 points led Notre Dame (8-8).
St. Ignatius 56, Resurrection 52: Margaret Gilmartin and Beth Wood scored 17 and 15 points, respectively, to lift the Wolfpack (12-8, 3-2) in the GCAC Red. With the score tied 42-42 in the fourth, Gilmartin responded with back-to-back three-pointers to give St. Ignatius the lead for good. Denise Bronski led all scorers with 22 points for Resurrection (13-5, 2-1).
Willowbrook 62, Downers Grove South 50: Meri Niehaus’ 19 points led the Warriors (17-2, 7-0) in the West Suburban Gold.
Boys basketball
Proviso East 90, Willowbrook 35: Dee Brown had 27 points and six assists as the No. 11 Pirates (9-2, 3-0) bounced back from two losses at the Proviso West tournament to roll in the West Suburban Gold.
“I had a little attitude today,” said Proviso East coach Troy Jackson. “We had to get back to the type of defense we’re capable of playing. Once the defense got in sync, everything else flowed from that.”
Shannon Brown added 16 points and eight assists while Charles Richardson chipped in with 11 points for Proviso East, which led 50-5 at halftime and finished the first half on a 26-0 run. Ryan Johnson’s 11 points led Willowbrook (4-11, 0-4).
Buffalo Grove 58, Lake Forest 46: Brett Gerken scored 13 points to spark the Bison (6-8).
Gordon Tech 75, St. Edward 73: Michael Lang had 16 points and Greg King had 12 points, 12 rebounds and hit one-of-two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Rams (11-3) the winning margin. Dillion Sneed added 14 points and Ramphis Marrero chipped in with 11 points for Gordon Tech. Doug McCullough had 27 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, to lead St. Edward (8-7)
Neuqua Valley 78, Plainfield 55: Josh Wesley had 18 points and six rebounds to go with Keelan Amelianovich’s 16 points as the Wildcats (11-2) rolled in a non-conference game. Jim Cowgill ledPlainfield (8-7) with 13 points off the bench.
Notre Dame 64, Maine South 50: John Bowler had 28 points and Will Schober had 14 to lead the Dons (12-2). Bowler had 17 of his points in the first half–11 in the second quarter–to spark Notre Dame, which trailed at the end of the first quarter. Bryan Smaha led Maine South (3-12) with 15 points.
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Riverside-Brookfield 65, Stagg 50: Tim Brasic scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half as the Bullodgs (12-2) pulled away in the non-conference game. Riverside-Brookfield held Stagg’s David Genslinger to just six points. Genslinger had scored 34 points against R-B at last week’s York tournament.
Shatone Powers contributed 16 points and Larry Polanski added 11 points for R-B, while David Milnes’ 12 points led Stagg (10-6).
St. Benedict 59, University High 58: Vince Mark scored 15 points and sank two free throws with 1 second left as the Bengals (8-7) pulled out the victory. Pat Luna had 14 points and Juan Gibson added 11 for the winners.
St. Charles East 61, Elgin 58: Brian Schmit scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Saints (6-6, 3-1) held on for the Upstate Eight win. Joe Caricato added 14 points and Chris Jones had 11 points and eight rebounds for St. Charles East, which held a nine-point lead with 30 seconds left before Elgin (8-7, 3-2) rallied. Quinton Howard led the Maroons with 20 points.
St. Ignatius 55, Holy Cross 45: Ian Barney scored 13 points and Matt Weber added 11 as the Wolfpack (7-9) used a 13-2 run to close out Holy Cross. St. Ignatius clinched the victory with its defense as it held the Crusaders to 1-of-10 from the field in the final 4:22.
“We [increased] the pressure and turned up the tempo of the game,” St. Ignatius coach John Tracy said. “It changed the game completely.”
Ricky Mojek led Holy Cross (14-2) with 18 points, while Jack Walsh chipped in with 14 points.
Warren 58, St. Joseph 52: Quentin Herring had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Ihlenfeldt added 17 points and eight assists to lead Warren (8-6). The Blue Devils had led by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter until St. Joseph (6-6) cut the lead to four, but couldn’t get closer. Tony Freeman and Chris Hart had 15 points each for the Chargers.
Illinois Basketball Coaches Shootout: T.J. Parker had 22 points and Joe Cortez added 17 points for Lisle (12-1) in a 55-41 win over Cissna Park-Crescent Iroquois.