Stejskal, Buffalo Grove shoot past St. Charles North
Buffalo Grove's Sammy Stejskal isn't known for her 3-point prowess unlike some of her Bison teammates, but as head coach Steve Kolodziej alluded to in a timeout prior to Stejskal's game-winning jumper, it was “somebody's time to make a big play.”
And Stejskal sure as heck did it the Buffalo Grove way as she drained, what else, a deep 3-pointer from the left wing with 6 seconds remaining in a 57-56 quarterfinal comeback win over St. Charles North in overtime at the 32nd Annual Dundee-Crown Charger Classic on Saturday.
Buffalo Grove (12-1), which advanced to Monday's 8 p.m. semifinal against New Trier, trailed by 2 in the waning seconds and watched Stejskal go for it all on a broken play in which Bri Kolbus made the kick-out among chaos in the paint after North (7-4) regained the lead on a wide open layup from the left block from Nichole Davidson with 17.7 left.
“I'm not really a 3-point shooter but it felt really good to knock that 3 down,” said Stejskal, who scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. “Bri made the extra pass and I was open and I made the shot.”
St. Charles North's attempt with 0.5 left came to no avail as it capped a big comeback for the Bison, winners of 6-straight now. St. Charles North's 4-game win streak was snapped and will face Burlington Central Monday on at 5 p.m.
Buffalo Grove advanced to the semifinals by rallying back from as many as 11 and didn't grab their first lead until 6 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Stejskal put the Bison on top 50-48.
“I was proud of my kids,” Bison coach Steve Kolodziej said. “I'm really excited they didn't quit and played all the way through.”
Maddie Welter, largely responsible for keeping the Bison in it during the second and third quarters, led the team with 22 points while draining 6 of her 15 3-pointers to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Welter nailed the game-tying 3 with 38.1 left in overtime after it seemed North was in control by 3.
“She's an outstanding basketball player,” Kolodziej said. “You leave Maddie open and she's going to step up and knock down some shots.”
St. Charles North's 1-3-1 caused havoc in the early going, and it didn't help that forward Morgan Rosecrants provided a major size problem in the paint. Rosecrants, who went for a game-high 25 and 13 rebounds, poured in 12 in the first quarter as the North Stars jumped out to a quick 11-3 advantage in the process. North held a 37-28 edge on the glass overall but once Buffalo Grove got closer, the Bison seemed a shot or two away from taking the momentum.
“I thought we attacked it well for the first three quarters,” North coach Sean Masoncup said. “In the fourth quarter we settled for just moving the ball around and being aggressive. You have to give them credit, to be up 2 with 17 seconds and to hit a 3 with two girls running at you, you shake their hands.”
Claire Jakaitis put in 13 points while Davidson scored 10 for North. Ashling Davern, who sank 2 enormous free throws with the North Stars down 2 with 0.8 in the fourth to force overtime, unfortunately left the game after she whacked her head on the deck while jumping for a pass on the last possession of the game.
“Ashling getting hurt on that last play really brought us down, too,” said Rosecrants, who said the team was battling multiple injuries, including the flu and one player who was involved in a car accident Friday. “We tried to win for her but it wasn't our game, it was one of the toughest games we ever played.”