Time's right for another Conant win

Playing on a Monday night during a school week was a first for Conant's girls basketball team this season.

"This was kind of different," said Cougars senior guard Dani Engelbreit. "We're used to Tuesday and Friday nights."

But the Cougars are also used to winning.

Regardless of the night of the week, the Cougars (21-4) still knew how to win as they posted a 45-37 victory over a stubborn St. Viator squad in Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

The young Lions (9-18), going up against a veteran Conant team, kept things interesting to the end.

The Cougars were up by 4 points with less than five minutes to play.

But junior guard Nireet Dhillon went coast to coast, finishing with a nice move around the final defender for a layup and 39-33 lead with 4:58 left in the game.

The Cougars were patient the rest of the way and put the game away when Engelbreit's 2 free throws with 19.5 seconds left made it 45-37.

"We just needed to get started with our defense, and that generates more offense," added Engelbreit (5 rebounds, 4 points, 2 assists). "It was different playing on a Monday but it's good preparation for the state tournament which is coming up (next week)."

The Cougars have one game left before the postseason.

They return to the same neighborhood at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when they visit Hersey (20-6) in Arlington Heights for the Mid-Suburban League second-place crossover contest.

St. Viator senior guard Kayne Stanley helped keep the Lions in the contest for the first 16 minutes, during which she scored all 10 of her team-high points. Stanley, who is averaging double digits in the Lions' last seven games, collected most of her points on strong drives to the basket.

Her driving 3-footer midway through the first quarter gave St. Viator a 12-7 lead.

But Conant senior guard Lexi Zades came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer just before the first-quarter buzzer to put the Cougars ahead 16-14.

"I have sort of come into my role this season," said the sharpshooting Zades (6 points), who has had six games with 2 or more 3-pointers. "I come off the bench and have to provide a spark and energy."

She executed that role perfectly, tossing home another 3-pointer with 6:14 left in the second quarter to give the visitors a 21-16 lead.

Viator got to within 1 point twice in the second half on a rebound layup by senior Maddie McAteer (9 rebounds, 7 points) and another putback by Jessica Hohlweg (4 points) which made it 28-27 with 3:55 left in the third quarter.

Dhillon answered with a 3-pointer and the Cougars maintained the momentum to lead 35-31 after three quarters.

"It's kind of been our theme - doing everything we need to win," said Cougars coach Deirdre Naughton. "We're excited to get back to practice and clean things up. It's late in the season and that's what we must do now."

Dhillon (4 rebounds, 3 assist, 2 steals) led the Cougars with 12 points, including two 3-pointers, while sophomore Jorie Wachal also got into double figures, scoring 10 points with 8 rebounds.

Conant senior Haley Anderson once again played her key role on the board with 8 rebounds while classmates Alyssa Wachal pulled down 5 and Katie Lomas 4 with 2 assists and 2 steals.

"We didn't do well finding the open person and we had too many turnovers," said Lions coach Paul Missavage, who like Naughton is in his first season directing the program. "We had people open but didn't find them.

"We were very respectable against a very good team (Conant has only lost to state powers Fremd, Prospect and Marian Catholic). Conant shoots the ball very well, and they beat you inside with their bigs."

Freshman Myia Clark added 9 points for Viator which played its final home game of the season. Classmate Olivia Solimene chipped in 5 points with a key 3-point play in the first half.

"We held our own against the No. 1 seed in the Geneva sectional," said Missavage whose team tied the Cougars with 35 rebound apiece.

The Lions had 15 2-point field goals to 10 by Conant 9. But the Cougars had six 3-pointers including two from Dhillon and Zades and one apiece from Jorie Wachal and junior Brie Murphy. Clark had the only 3-pointer for Viator.