Metea Valley pulls away from Bartlett

Fresh off a 51-50 win at Hinsdale Central on Friday night, the Metea Valley girls basketball team followed up by defeating host Bartlett 51-43 on Saturday to finish both team’s Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division schedules.

Heading into the fourth quarter trailing 31-30, the Mustangs (21-5, 10-2) came through down the stretch outscoring the Hawks (14-12, 7-5) 21-12 in the final period.

“I felt pretty good, and I think we played well over this weekend,” Mustangs’ coach Kris Kalivas said. “We did a much better job working and taking the ball inside in the fourth quarter.”

Bartlett had taken a 38-36 lead after an Ally Giampapa layup with 5:28 left on the clock, but Metea Valley answered with a 5-0 run capped by a Nia Flowers (8 points) layup to take the lead for good, 41-38.

The Hawks pulled to within 41-40 after a steal and layup from Chantel Zasada with 2:40 left to play, but Lori Obendorf scored 8 points during a 10-3 finish for the Mustangs, who will host St. Charles East on Thursday in the UEC crossover second-place game.

Obendorf scored 11 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter including a 7-for-8 performance at the line. She also added 12 rebounds and 4 steals in the game.

“I thought we started playing as a team in the fourth quarter,” Obendorf said. “Early on, I thought we were forcing up some shots and making some mistakes. We just came together at the end.”

Jenny Voytell had a game-high 18 points and tallied 6 points during a 10-3 start for Metea Valley, but Bartlett rallied back to take a 13-12 lead by the end of the framed behind Kaitlin Brohan, who scored 6 of her 9 points in the opening period.

From there, neither team held greater than a 6-point advantage until the final two minutes of the game.

Metea Valley was missing two starters, including 6-foot-2 Anna Petersen, and Bartlett coach Denise Sarna felt her team could have used its size advantage better.

Elizabeth Arco (6-foot-1) had 9 points and 8 rebounds and Alyssa Hernandez (6-foot-2) 8 points and 7 rebounds, but the Hawks lost the battle on the boards 30-28. Both Katie Lawrence and Voytell grabbed 5 rebounds for the Mustangs.

“We had a size advantage, but we just couldn’t seem to get the ball inside tonight,” said Sarna, whose Hawks will host U-46 rival Streamwood in Thursday’s third-place crossover game said. “All year, we’ve had solid play inside from Alyssa and we just didn’t get the ball inside to her enough.”

Bartlett was celebrating its senior night for Hernandez, Zasada and Alexandra Fleig.