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New-look St. Viator looks good in home debut

It's a new era for St. Viator girls basketball.

Wednesday night was its official start at the school's Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

After playing its first five games in Carpentersville (Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving tournament), the Lions were home for the first time under new coach Paul Missavage as a trio of freshmen got their first home-game experience.

It proved to be a result St. Viator fans would like see to see many more times in the future.

Led by 5-foot-7 freshman guard Maya Clark's game-high 16 points, St. Viator rolled past Johnsburg 45-19 in the nonconference test.

"It's a fresh start and this was a nice way to begin," said senior guard Kayne Stanley (6 points), who connected for a pair of 3-pointers in the second half. "It's a little sad being my final home opener but it was really nice to get the win."

Stanley will serve as one of the floor leaders for the Lions.

"I thought Kayne probably had our best game," Missavage said. "She hit big shots and was our floor leader. She communicated very well on the floor."

Viator led 7-4 after one quarter with Clark and senior Jess Hohlweg accounting for all the Lions' points.

The hosts began to pull away in the second quarter.

Junior Catherine Hafner hit a 15-footer and freshman Olivia Solimene connected for a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 12-4.

The Lions never looked back in winning for the second time in six games.

"Obviously, we are excited," said Hohlweg, who chipped in 5 points. "We have a lot of young girls so we want to make sure this is a good experience for them.

"They have all accepted their roles and we have embraced them and supported them. All this starts with our coach who has a very positive outlook and that trickles down into our mentality."

Also making it into the scoring column for Viator were junior Julia Bergstrom (6 points, all in the second half) and freshman Grace McNamara (5 points).

"The seniors know we have to try and give the younger kids playing time and that we have to make it fun for them," Missavage said. "I thought we had a good team effort.

"Jess (Hohlweg) did a good job in the post defensively and she did a pretty good job on their No. 22 (junior Jazza Jones) in the second half."

Jones led the Skyhawks (3-4) with 7 points while senior Trace Chase added 4.

"We didn't play very smart," said Johnsburg coach Brad Frey. "I thought St. Viator played good defense and made us do things we didn't want to do with the basketball. We're young. We will get better."

The Lions hope to get better, too.

"I thought we dug in defensively,' Missavage said. "We did a pretty good job on the boards. but we had way too many turnovers (20). If we cut those in half, maybe we would have scored around 65 points."

Images: St. Viator vs. Johnsburg, girls basketball

  St. Viator's Jessica Hohlweg, left, and Madison McAteer, right, try to take the ball from Johnsburg's Carly Wilson during Wednesday's game in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator's Julia Bergstrom, right, tries to keep the ball inbounds on an attempted steal from Johnsburg's Cortland Sommerfeldt during Wednesday's game in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator's Grace McNamara, right, takes a shot against Johnsburg defender Jazza Johns during Wednesday's game in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator's Jessica Hohlweg, left, steals the ball from Johnsburg's Carly Wilson during Wednesday's game in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  St. Viator's Kayne Stanley, right, leads a fast break as Johnsburg's Carly Wilson stays close behind her during Wednesday's game in Arlington Heights. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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