Maggie O’Donnell saw her chance to make the kind of positive play that had been all too elusive for much of the season.
During a Class 4A Barrington Regional quarterfinal Monday against Mundelein, the Fillies senior guard controlled a ball deflected by Cecilia Stack and drove toward the Mundelein basket. Not wanting to risk a turnover, she drilled a turnaround jumper from about nine feet.
The basket marked the fifth and final lead change in the fourth quarter as the Fillies pulled out a 30-29 win against the Mustangs.
O’Donnell’s basket, her only two points, came with a minute to play.
“The players, we all got together, and we realized this could be our last game, and we knew we did not want to go out like that,” O’Donnell said. “We just decided to put our heads down and go out as far as we could.”
Stack scored 10 points and added eight rebounds and a block against Mundelein.
The win gave Barrington (5-22) one last hurrah before ending its season. The Fillies lost to No. 2-seeded Fremd 46-28 in a regional semifinal on Wednesday.
Still, Barrington made a strong push considering it had a frustrating regular season and was seeded 18th of the 22 teams in the Libertyville Sectional.
“I think our record does not reflect on us as a team,” O’Donnell said. “We are definitely a group of good, hard-working girls. It just did not fall our way this season, but we always put in the effort.”
Despite racking up more than 20 losses, the Fillies never got despondent. Barrington found ways to cope with the disappointment and continued to compete to the end.
“It got pretty tough at times,” Stack said. “But we have a strong bond off the court. It is really hard to lose all of these games, so you have to come together off the court and push through it. I think it is very important to keep a smile on your face through it all, and we had a lot of happy girls.”
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In her first year as a starter, Stack emerged as a vocal leader and demonstrative player. The rest of the team played off her energy and optimistic spirit. She also proved to be a valuable mentor to 6-foot-2 freshman center Taylor Thompson.
Despite navigating foul trouble in the second half, Thompson equaled Stack’s team-best 10 points and added seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks against Mundelein.
Rather than watching and learning as a freshman, Thompson was thrown into the mix right away. Trial and error took its toll, but the payoff of valuable experience could prove to be useful next season and beyond.
“I had to work hard to get to the same place as all of the other girls because they have been playing on this team for a while,” Thompson said. “Being a freshman and us losing so much, I feel like it really taught me to work harder over the next few years to help the team have a better record.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press