St. Xavier has been a dominant force in the CCAC throughout senior Mikayla Leyden’s career, but one thing was lacking: a conference tournament title.
The Cougars got it Tuesday night, spoiling host St. Francis’ undefeated season in the process with an 88-64 win in the CCAC Tournament championship game.
“It’s awesome,” Leyden said. “Not only to get revenge against them, but to do it in the CCAC championship. It’s great that we got to do this on their homecourt and be responsible for their only loss.”
Lincoln-Way East graduate Kara Krolicki, who was named CCAC Player of the Year after the game, led the Cougars (30-2) with 22 points.
Brittany Collins added 20 points and 12 rebounds and Leyden had 19 points and seven rebounds. t was the first CCAC Tournament title since 2012 for St. Xavier, ranked No. 3 in NAIA.
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Homewood-Flossmoor product Charnelle Reed poured in 33 points for No. 1 St. Francis (31-1).
In the teams’ regular-season meeting, St. Xavier fell behind big early and never recovered in an 80-70 loss.
Tuesday’s game was the complete opposite. The Cougars jumped to a 14-5 lead six minutes in and never trailed the rest of the way.
“We played great as a team,” Collins said. “We shared the ball amazingly. It was a huge team win.”
The Saints had no answer for Collins inside. When they did collapse on her, she found St. Xavier’s guards for outside shots.
The Cougars were just 3-for-14 on 3-pointers in the first half, but went 10-for-14 in the second half.
Krolicki led the way. After being held to four points in the first half, she scored eight points in the first 1:38 of the second half, hitting a pair of threes to stretch the lead to 46-29.
“In the first half, I wasn’t getting as many clean looks, but my teammates picked it up,” Krolicki said. “I came out in the second half feeling it.”
St. Francis got within 51-39 after consecutive 3-pointers from Joliet Catholic graduate Christina Ekhomu, but St. Xavier freshman Chanel Fanter responded with three 3-pointers in a two-minute span.
“They hit some threes and in the back of your mind you’re thinking ‘Oh shoot, what if they come back?” said Fanter, who finished with 16 points. “It was huge to answer.”
Kamari Jordan scored 14 points for St. Francis.
Both teams will next play in the NAIA National Tournament, which begins March 8 in Sioux City, Iowa.
“This is a time of adversity for us and we haven’t had to deal with a lot of that,” St. Francis coach Sam Quigley said. “It’ll be good for us to see how we react.”
Moraine Valley 86, Waubonsee 66: Michelle Borgen scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Moraine (15-16) in the District L quarterfinals for NJCAA Region IV. Erin Drynan added 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Boys Basketball
Bolingbrook 86, Lincoln-Way West 51: Marco Pettinato scored a game-high 19 points for West (9-18) in the 4A Sandburg Regional semifinals.
Brother Rice 86, Oak Lawn 42: Josh Niego scored 29 points as Rice (24-5) advanced to the 4A regional final at Homewood-Flossmoor.
Lemont 51, Sandburg 35: P.J. Pipes scored 15 points for visiting Lemont (16-11) in the 4A regional semifinals.
Hillcrest 64, Ag. Science 39: Marcus Garrett contributed 21 points and Isaac Stanback added 19 to put Hillcrest (19-7) in the 3A Joliet Catholic Regional championship.
Rich Central 60, Rich South 40: Glen Abram had 23 points for visiting Central (10-17) in the 3A regional semifinals. Hassan Bilal scored 15 points for South (14-12).
News & Notes
Around the area: Quinn Niego of St. Xavier was a first team all-conference selection in the CCAC for men’s basketball. … Lewis’ Bryce Holesinger and Sergio Miranda were named to the Midwest All-Region Team by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The organization bestowed similar honors upon Amanda Farrough, Allison Heinzer, Cierra Pulliam and Phoenix Smallwood from the Flyers’ women’s team.
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Steve Millar is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown. Freelance writer Josh Krockey contributed.