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Quick-starting Marian Catholic takes charge at St. Viator

From Marian Catholic's 16-0 run to start the game to Olivia Solimene's steal and layup at the end, St. Viator never quit playing hard in the East Suburban Catholic Conference Saturday matinee.

But the Spartans showed why they are considered one of the best teams in the state with a 58-26 victory at the Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

With its all-stater and leading scorer Teniya Page sidelined with a minor injury, Marian Catholic's 15th win in 17 games was pretty much locked up in the first eight minutes.

Two free throws by senior Kauai Bradley made it 16-0 with 55.4 seconds left in the first quarter.

Bradley was the Spartan who hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds against Rolling Meadows in the 2013 Class AA state championship game.

Viator's first shot didn't come until 2:10 was left in the first quarter. Its first point came when freshman Myia Clark hit the second of 2 free throws with 6:54 left in the second quarter, making it 16-1.

Clark also hit the first basket for the Lions, firing home her first of three 3-pointers with 5:12 left in the half making it 21-4.

The 5-foot-7 guard finished with a team-high 14 points while her classmate Solimene had 4 points. Freshman Grace McNamara also had a bucket in the second quarter as the three Lion rookies combined for 20 of the team's 26 points.

Junior Julia Bergström and senior Kayne Stanley each had 2 points while senior Molly McNamara and junior Brighdin Finnegan each had 1.

"It's definitely hard playing a team like that," Stanley said. "But you just have to keep working really hard and taking advantage of any chances you get. Then you try to finish."

Janae Poisson finished with 15 points to lead the visitors, who are 3-0 in the ESCC.

"I thought she (Poisson) played really well," said Marian Catholic second-year coach Dan Murray (52-7 record). "She was kind of in Teniya's spot and she stepped up real well."

The Spartans often stepped behind the 3-point arc to fire shots and made nine of them, including three by Poisson.

"It's good to see a team at their high level," Stanley said. "When we get to the playoffs at the end of the season, this will only help and we will know what to expect. We basically just had to play as hard as we could."

Lions coach Paul Missavage liked his team's focus and concentration.

"I thought we did a good job staying to our game plan," he said. "That's a really good team and our kids came out and fought. They never gave up. We didn't get blown out and obviously that can happen when playing them."

The Spartans scored a season-high 82 points against Marian Central earlier in the season. They are averaging 60 points a game and allowing 34.7.

"We missed layups, free throws and had too many turnovers," Missavage added. "That's what hurt us the most, otherwise, the score would have been much more respectable."

Murray respected the Lions (5-10, 1-1).

"We knew about their freshman (Clark), who has led the team scoring-wise in seven games)," he said. "And they do a nice job. They are patient running their offense. Obviously their coach is doing a nice job trying to keep them disciplined. They will be a good team moving forward. I know they're young."

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