Fate favors Bailey, St. Viator
Six years ago when she was a student at Thomas Middle School, Megan Bailey had no clue she would attend St. Viator High School.
“I was in the Buffalo Grove feeder program and I was in love with their basketball program,” she said. “But my Thomas teammate's (Julia Frank) mother (Diane) was a feeder coach for St. Viator, and that's where Julia was always going. Julia talked me into coming to St. Viator.
“Plus my mom (Cheryl) had attended Sacred Heart (St. Viator's former sister school in Rolling Meadows).”
Tuesday night, in the same town where they attended middle school, Bailey (15 points) and Frank (9) were the Lions' top two scorers in a 40-28 victory over Northside Prep (12-5) for the Snowflake tournament championship at St. Viator's Cahill Gymnasium.
After finishing third in coach Paul Bjerkness's first season five years ago, the Lions (9-7) won their own tournament for the fourth straight year.
“The kids played awesome,” Bjerkness said. “We had some big shots and Megan Bailey came up with some huge ones for us.”
Just when Northside Prep battled back to cut the Viator lead to 7 points, Bailey drilled her first of three 3-point buckets in a span of four minutes to give the Lions a 30-20 lead with 55 seconds left in the third quarter.
The 5-foot-7 senior guard was hardly done.
She came back with a driving layup 30 seconds later to give her team a 32-20 lead.
The Lions led 32-22 after three quarters and Bailey made sure the Mustangs wouldn't get closer in the fourth.
She opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Tourney MVP Katie Gavin (8 points, 4 rebounds) followed with another bucket that gave Viator its biggest lead in the game, 40-24, with 3:01 left.
“We didn't close out on her (Bailey) defensively a few times and she hit those big baskets that stopped our run,” said Northside Prep coach Mike Heavey, whose team was led by senior all-tourney selections Lexi Jones and Becky Duffy (9 points apiece).
“I love shooting outside,” said Bailey, who came off the bench for her big night. “We all pushed it this game. We were determined to win the championship.”
Just a week earlier, the Lions defeated the Mustangs 48-28 in pool play of the eight-team event which for the first time in its 28-year history had a tourney website managed by athletic director Tim Carlson.
“In feeder, Megan and I used to come to watch St. Viator play in this tournament,” said Frank (5 rebounds), who scored the game's first bucket with a 14-footer from the left side of the free throw lane. “It's really cool that we were able to win this championship our senior year. It's awesome.”
Junior Lauren Rooney, also an all-tourney selection, pulled down 11 rebounds for the Lions while teammates Morgan Hess had 4 and Katie Calmeyn 3.
Calmeyn also had 3 assists, including the one on Bailey's layup which made it 32-30.
“It's a testament to them to be without three starters (Mallory Hess, Emily Leazer and Taylor Skala) and still win this tournament,” Heavey said. “It shows the quality of their depth and the fine coaching they have.”
Maggie Dougherty and Morgan Hess also gave the Lions points off the bench.
“We knew they liked to backdoor and we were able to take that away,” Bjerkness added. “And we were able to force them into some bad shots.”
Bailey sure had the right shots for the Lions.
“I was just worried about scoring in general,” she said with a smile. “I was worried about winning the championship and not messing up.”
Instead, the Lions messed up any hopes other Snowflake participants had of winning the crown.
“Unbelievable,” Bjerkness said. “Northridge Prep threw everything at us. I did not look forward to playing them a second time.
“We've asked our kids to play their roles and they've accepted it. Every game it's someone different stepping up.”
Bailey put her foot forward Tuesday and the Lions can be thankful Frank convinced her middle school teammate to choose St. Viator.