St. Viator skates to Snowflake win
With a 56-35 victory over Johnsburg on Wednesday nights, St. Viator’s girls basketball team felt it was on the right track.
The Lions kept the wheels spinning straight ahead when they raised the curtain for their own 30th annual Snowflake Tournament on Saturday night.
Led by junior Erin Fabbri (14 points), sophomore Jessica Hohlweg (12) and senior Michelle Presslak (10), St. Viator rolled to a 54-19 victory over Northside College Prep in the Cahill Gymnasium.
Fabbri had a pair of 3-pointers and 9 points in the first quarter when the Lions raced to a 21-2 advantage.
“We wanted to come out strong and playing as a team,” Fabbri said. “We held our energy the whole game.”
The Lions improved to 7-8 overall while Northside Prep is 2-12.
“It’s good to get two in a row now after being in a little slump,” Fabbri added. “That Johnsburg game got us going and we carried it into this game. We are hoping to win all our games in this tournament so we get our record back up there.”
The Lions will practice on Christmas Eve morning and then return to action against Elmwood Park on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Sophomore Susie Moynihan added 9 points for the Lions.
“It was a good start to the tournament,” said St. Viator coach Christina Jost. “The girls played hard and it was a good team effort.
Glenbrook North 45, Leyden 36: Despite trailing 24-6 at intermission, Leyden coach Drewann Pancratz watched her Eagles outscore Glenbrook North 30-21 in the final two quarters of their opening game of the Snowflake Tournament.
Sophomore guard Alondra Chavarria scored 17 points to spark the second-half rally for Leyden and finished with a team-high 19 points. Senior forward Justyna Chojnowki added 6 for the Eagles.
Palatine 34, Deerfield 21: At Warren, the Pirates (12-3) won again but lost four-year varsity guard Nia Pappas to an ankle injury in the opening quarter.
The IUPUI-bound Pappas had to be helped off the court and did not return. She was on crutches after the game and headed to get X-rays.
“I guess we take it for granted that she’s been a four-year varsity starter and she’s never gotten hurt before,” Pirates coach Leslie Schock said. “Now we got to reshuffle some things, and it’s a big opportunity for other girls to step up.”
Sophomore Monica Masini had 10 points for Palatine. McKenzie Wiedemann (5 steals) and Samantha Heuertz added 7 apiece, and Erin Mayer (5 points) grabbed 11 rebounds.
“I told the girls, our defense is going to keep us in games, especially because our offense is pretty inconsistent right now,” Schock said. “We play pretty hard defense.”
Palatine led 14-7 after one quarter, 17-13 at halftime and 26-15 after three.
Deerfield (5-9), which got 10 points from Haley Greer, lost its fifth in a row.
“We made a little bit of a run (in the fourth quarter), but they took care of the ball,” Warriors coach Mike Muldrow.
Wheeling 47, Niles North 30: At Warren, sophomore Hannah Dobrowski scored 12 points and classmate Deanna Kuzmanic added 10 and 4 assists for the Wildcats (5-10) in their opening game of the Blue devil Classic.
Wheeling led 12-9 after one quarter, 21-14 at halftime and 37-20 after three. Elizabeth Smith and Gianna Calistro chipped in 8 and 7 points, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Taylor Louis had 9 points for Niles North (0-13).
Ÿ Joe Aguilar conributed to this report.