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St. Viator's defense helps pave the way

St. Viator's girls basketball team played its second game of the season in its own Cahill Gymnasium on Tuesday night in Arlington Heights.

The result was the Lions' second win of the young season.

With juniors Myia Clark (11 points) and Olivia Solimene (10) scoring nearly half of the points on offense, it was the Lions' defense that stepped up and made the big difference in a 44-30 decision over Elk Grove.

The Grenadiers scored 8 points in the first 4 minutes to grab an 8-1 lead but St. Viator (2-6) surrendered only 22 points in the next 29 minutes of the nonconference game.

Two of Clark's 5 field goals came off her own steals which she converted into layups.

"Defense was the key," Solimene said. "In practice on Monday, all we did was work on defensive stance, communication and help line. And we stuck with that plan in this game. What won this game for us was defense."

Despite the 8-1 deficit, the Lions were able to get to tie the game at 10-10 when Solimene tossed a nice pass to Haley Robinson, who converted the fastbreak layup with 2:26 left in the opening period.

A 3-pointer by Solimene gave the Lions the lead for good at 13-10.

"Olivia played a pretty good floor game," said Lions coach Jason Raymond. "She is kind of our leader on the floor and she stepped up again."

Senior Sarah Schade's putback at the first-quarter buzzer gave Viator a 15-11 lead after one period.

Senior Jenny Banak's 3-pointer got EG to within 19-17 with 2:05 left in the half before Maddie Fitzpatrick's running 3-pointer from the top of the key gave the hosts a 22-17 lead at the break.

Viator outscored the Grens 22-13 in the second half.

"We scored early in the game and that gives you energy," said Grenadiers coach Jen Guth. "But in the third quarter, we made only 2 of 10 shots. We've got to make baskets. We're just having a really hard time putting the ball in the basket. Our shooting percentage is really low."

Banak led EG (2-7) with 11 points (three 3-pointers) while teammate Zoe Blomquist (5 points) also had a 3-pointer.

"I thought Emily Sitkowski (5-foot-4 freshman guard) played really tough defense," Guth added. "She is undersized but plays with a lot of heart. She gives you 100 percent all the time."

Guth likes the team attitude.

"These are really nice girls and great to work with," she said. "They want to get better. Not only are they really good teammates but they want to push each other. So I know we will see improvement as the season goes on."

Raymond already sees improvement in his team's defense from a year ago.

"Defensively, we are much improved from this time last season," he said. "It was a real struggle early last year. And we needed good defense to stay in this game when we fell behind."

Lions senior center Jenna Breslin scored 4 of her 6 points in the second half while Schade and Carrie Leazer also got key inside for field goals to help the Lions pull away.

"In the second half, the biggest thing was that were able to get inside touches," Raymond said. "Jenna Breslin, Haley Robinson, Loreta Dugo and Carrie Leazer were all able to get better looks due to us getting the ball inside better."

Next up for the Lions is a road test at Joliet Catholic on Thursday night.

"It's a long drive," Solimene said of the East Suburban Catholic Conference road trip south to Joliet. "We have a plan to stick with our defense. And then, if we make our shots, that will give us a chance."

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