St. Edward nips St. Francis again
About the only thing that changed for the St. Edward and St. Francis girls basketball teams when they met Friday night was that this game was in Elgin and not Wheaton.
And St. Edward's gym was the scene of some dejavu as the Green Wave survived a last-second attempt by St. Francis to win the game, earning a hard-fought 62-61 Suburban Christian Blue victory over St. Francis. The Wave beat the Spartans 45-44 on Dec. 4 in similar fashion.
The last-second drama was fitting for an exciting game in St. Edward's noisy and crowded gym, a contest in which St. Edward broke out to a big lead, St. Francis caught up, St. Francis took a lead, St. Edward caught up and in the end St. Edward had 1 more point than the Spartans after the teams combined for 12 3-pointers and only committed 23 turnovers between them.
“We knew we had to step it up,” said St. Edward senior Enza Ranallo, who had 16 points and buried four 3-points, including two late in the game that led St. Edward's final comeback. “St. Francis is a really tough team and we knew they'd bring it. We really worked as a team and came through.”
St. Edward (15-5, 6-2), which won its third straight, looked like it might blow St. Francis (11-10, 3-3) straight back to Wheaton before halftime. Maddie Kerr scored 7 of her 17 points and Enza Ranallo hit two 3-pointers as St. Edward broke out to an 18-9 lead just before the end of the first quarter then extended it to 24-14 with less than a minute gone in the second quarter when Kerr hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
“For some reason we didn't get out on their shooters like we wanted to,” said St. Francis coach Jeff Gerdeman. “We made an adjustment in the second half but they adjusted too. But you're not going to win giving up (61) points.”
The Spartans woke up, though, and hit 8 of their 12 shots in the second quarter and by halftime of the up-tempo affair they had inched to within 1 points at 35-34. They carried that momentum into the third quarter and built a 49-41 lead after a Kelly McShea 3-pointer with 56 seconds left in the third.
But St. Edward wouldn't allow St. Francis to build on the lead. The Spartans were up just 3, 52-49, with 4:35 to play when the Green Wave made their move. After going 0-for-9 in the period from 3-point range to that point, Enza Ranallo hit from long range to tie the game, Callie Johnson (13 points) buried one from the corner, then Enza Ranallo hit nothing but net again, all within 1 minute and 32 seconds, and St. Edward had a 58-52 lead.
“That changed the momentum and we never recovered from it,” said Gerdeman. “They just killed us from 3-point tonight.”
The Spartans closed to within 58-57 but Johnson hit a one-hander on the baseline to make it 60-57 with 1:23 left. Fiona McMahon (14 points, 14 rebounds) made it 60-59 at 1:06 but St. Francis had only 3 fouls and by the time the Spartans could put St. Edward into the bonus there was 28 seconds to go. Catherine Von Ahnen missed the front end of a 1-and-1 but Johnson battled for the rebound and was fouled. She made 2 free throws to make it 62-59 with 25 seconds left and St. Francis' Kate Slattery scored with 15 seconds to go and Enza Ranallo missed the front end of a bonus with 6 seconds to play but Dana DuBois' off-balance shot from 30 feet just grazed glass and St. Edward had escaped with the win.
“It was a great team win tonight,” said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson. “We got Alex Lee back tonight after a month (finger injury) and she helped with some minutes and Callie, Maddie and Enza were hitting from outside. I'm really pleased with the team ball we're playing right now.”
Rena Ranallo added 10 points for the Wave, who only had 8 turnovers. Kelly Reinke added 11 points and DuBois had 8 for St. Francis.