Cycenas, St. Francis rally to advance
As the lone senior starter and one of only two on the St. Francis girls basketball team, guard Elinor Cycenas has been through the growing pains.
On Tuesday the reward for her and the Spartans came in pure jubilation from an incredible comeback.
Trailing by 9 points at halftime, St. Francis dominated the second half and roared to a 51-38 victory over Nazareth in the Class 3A Nazareth regional semifinals in LaGrange Park.
The Spartans (18-10) outscored the Roadrunners 17-2 in the third quarter and actually led 48-32 with two minutes left - a 25-point turnaround from a 27-18 halftime deficit.
"We were down and we just really wanted it. At halftime we just said it's a new game, a new start and we just came out better," said Cycenas, who had 4 points.
"I'm proud of (the underclassmen). We wouldn't be the team we were if we didn't have the ones that stepped up. I feel like everybody contributes fairly. There's no one person."
Sophomore Mia Mazza, freshmen Antwainette Walker and juniors Leah Riccolo and Sloane Baumgartner are the team's other starters. Junior Reagan Sprout, freshman Christine Fasana and senior Regan Kasprak contributed prominently off the bench.
"It's a combination of being happy for our older kids that haven't had a lot of success in regionals and having the younger kids experience this so they can keep building the program to take it to a further level," St. Francis coach Mike Phillips said.
St. Francis, the No. 6 seed in the Orr sectional, plays for the regional title at 7 p.m. Thursday against No. 3 North Lawndale (18-11).
It didn't look like that would happen at halftime. The No. 11 Roadrunners combined the inside play of Margaret Harrington with four 3s to erase an early 7-4 deficit. St. Francis was 8-of-29 shooting.
The Spartans' third quarter was perhaps their best of the season. They opened with 14 unanswered points and made 7 of 13 shots and 5 of 6 free throws. Nazareth was 1 for 10 shooting with 11 turnovers.
"I guess number-wise it would be (our best quarter)," Phillips said. "We played defense for sure and then we got some shots to fall. We need to transition to be able to really score the way we want to. The defense makes that happen for us."
Riccolo typified the increased energy of the third quarter. Diving and sprawling for numerous loose balls, Riccolo herself collected 6 points, 3 steals and an assist.
"I like to get the ball, play aggressive. It helps get the team up," Riccolo said. "It's fun to keep the intensity up and just go after everything, don't let any ball go out of bounds."
St. Francis will try for its first regional title since 2003. Last year the Phoenix won a Class 4A regional title before being eliminated by eventual state champion Whitney Young.
"I'm really excited for Thursday," Cycenas said. "I was so excited (by the comeback). I just thought, next one, we would just keep going and trying to go to the basket. Our free throws really helped us."