Buzzer helps Lisle survive

Her team trailing by a point, Chicago Christian's Becky DeRuiter swished a 3-point shot as the final buzzer blared, but Lisle's Shelby Kretman knew better.

Just 0.2 seconds showed on the game clock when Chicago Christian took the ball out of bounds under the Lions' basket, not enough for DeRuiter to catch and shoot and beat the buzzer. The officials waved off the basket, and Lisle walked away with a 39-38 victory in the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic quarterfinals.

“I was like, no good, no good,” Kretman said. “I got goose bumps. It was crazy.”

“It would have been nice,” Chicago Christian coach Linda Stuursma added ruefully, though the referees had let her know during a timeout there wasn't enough time to catch and shoot.

Lisle (11-2) led most of the game, but the Lions couldn't shake Chicago Christian (3-11). They pulled out to their biggest lead of the game at 37-29 midway through the fourth quarter on a Darian Payne basket, but the Knights scored the next 6 points. “We're getting used to doing that,” Stuursma said.

A Kelly Urban field goal with 46 seconds to play gave Lisle a 3-point cushion, which DeRuiter cut to 1 with a basket 26 seconds later. But that was the last Chicago Christian basket that counted.

“That's a very nice win for us,” Lisle coach Dan Murray said. “I thought we played very well.”

The Lions advance to meet Westmont at 8 p.m. in today's semifinals.

“We couldn't be happier about that,” Murray said. “We're looking forward to tomorrow's game.”

Kretman led the Lions with 11 points, Darian Payne had 9 points and 11 rebounds and Nicole Urban had 9 points and 10 rebounds.

DeRuiter led all scorers with 18 but wished it had been 21.