Schaumburg hangs on against Lake Park
Players on successful teams will often talk about taking it one game at a time.
After Monday’s play-in game at the Hoffman Estates Class 4A girls basketball regional, Schaumburg senior Alexis Carravetta was talking about taking it one free throw at a time.
Carravetta made four straight in the game’s final minute — two with 38.3 seconds left and two more with 27.5 left — and had a big steal in between to help lift the No. 16-seeded Saxons to a 53-49 triumph over No. 17 Lake Park.
The Saxons (13-15) advance to today’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 1 seed and state-ranked Fenwick (24-4).
Carravetta, a 5-foot-5 reserve guard, called her 4 free throws probably the biggest of her varsity career.
The first two came after a rebound layup by junior Nicole Moore (9 points) brought the Lancers to within 48-47 with 39 second lefts in the game.
After Carravetta calmly swished both, she came up with a big steal near half court and was fouled seconds later.
Her next two swishes at the line made it 52-47.
“Just make one, just make one — then think about the next,” Carrevetta said of her strategy. “And on the steal, I was just hoping to see an open ball and try to get it without fouling.”
Senior guard Alex Munoz made a nice baseline drive for a short jumper to get Lake Park (13-15) back to within 52-49 before Saxons sophomore Amanda Kelly (10 points, 6 assists) made 1 of 2 free throws with 13.9 seconds left for the game’s final point.
Lake Park hustled down the floor for a shot that missed and senior Jennifer Pomagier grabbed the rebound.
Pomagier (3 steals) finished with a team-high 13 points, including 7 in the first seven minutes.
“That’s what we need from our seniors,” said Saxons coach Ashley Berggren. “Alexis and Jennifer played great and showed their senior leadership.”
Pomagier’s 3-point play gave Schaumburg a 13-11 lead with 1:29 left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, a 3-pointer by Kelly, driving layup by Pomagier and scoop left-handed layin by junior Alyssa Saklak (12 points, 2 steals) gave Schaumburg its biggest lead at 27-14.
“We needed to get a good start and get some momentum,” said Pomagier, who made a nice recovery from ACL surgery as a sophomore. “Then when they came back on us, we had to calm down, run the offense and take care of the ball.”
Lake Park came back in the third quarter when sophomore forward Alyssa Hernandez scored 8 of her game-high 15 points. She scored 8 straight points, including a pair of 3-point plays, to get Lake Park to within 38-35 with 2:11 left in the third quarter.
Hernandez missed the first few weeks of the season with a shoulder injury.
“She did a great job for us,” said Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling. “She was a huge spark for us offensively when we needed it. She has a great presence for us down low. Alyssa has made tremendous progress from that shoulder injury. She has endless potential.”
Junior forward Alexis Hahn added 14 points for the Lancers, including two big baskets in the fourth quarter.
“One thing we hope to do next season is come out at the start of games with same intensity we have at the end,” Fruehling said. “Great things can happen then. It was a treat to play Schaumburg. It’s a nice team and well-coached. I wish them all the best against Fenwick.”
Junior Kelly Skorczewski led Schaumburg on the boards with 10 rebounds while classmate Jenna Gerber had 6.
Saxons senior Rachel Stuehm had a big 3-pointer in the third quarter to help slow down Lake Park’s big rally. The Lancers outscored Schaumburg 17-7 in the period.
“We’ve taken a beating in the third quarter a lot this season,” Berggren said. “Then we rally in the fourth.”
And Carravetta made sure this fourth-quarter rally held up by making her free throws — one at a time.
Glenbard West 43, Leyden 27: Glenbard West needed a new memory.
Monday night’s 43-27 victory against Leyden in the Class 4A Glenbard West regional did the trick.
The Hilltoppers lost a big lead to York on Friday and a piece of the West Suburban Silver title with it, but they put that behind them quickly with a good start Monday.
“Especially after York we wanted to come out big and show what we had,” said senior point guard Bridget Flanagan, who scored 9 of her game-high 11 points in the first quarter.
“I was worried about how they were going to be and they came out and played well,” coach Mike Hofland said of his Hilltoppers. “It’s nice to jump on a team early.”
Glenbard West took a double-digit lead late in the first quarter when Flanagan converted a layup following a Lauren Davis steal and assist, going up 16-5.
“We struggled a little bit,” Eagles coach Michele Szatko said. “Our intensity for certain things was not there. We tried to do too much on the offensive end and were forcing things and not taking what the defense was giving us. We had to be a little bit more patient. It killed us.”
“We did a real nice job defensively, and Bridget did a nice job of getting to the basket,” Hofland added. “The only downfall in the first half was free throws. We missed quite a few. Otherwise I was pleased with everything else.”
In a close game the Hilltoppers’ 7-of-17 free-throw shooting might haunt them, but they did so well in other areas it wasn’t a factor. In fact the Hilltoppers starters got plenty of rest, with Hofland emptying the bench in advance of Tuesday night’s regional rematch against Wheaton North. The Hilltoppers upset Wheaton North last year and know the Falcons want to avenge that loss.
“Tomorrow night’s a key game,” Hofland said. “We’re looking forward to playing Wheaton North. Everybody’s pretty healthy and they’re going to be rested. It’s nice. We would have been in trouble maybe if we’d had to play everybody the whole game, but luckily we were able to sub everybody out and get the starters out in the fourth quarter, get them iced up and ready to go for tomorrow.”
Davis scored 9 points and Cayla Herbst added 8.
Senior Moira Quinlan led Leyden with 7 points.
— Orrin Schwarz