St. Francis takes thriller against Hinsdale Central

Injury and illness have taken a toll on St. Francis already this girls basketball season, so the Spartans were ready for something positive to happen.

St. Francis' season-opening 36-34 victory Thursday against Hinsdale Central at the Brenda Whitesell Invitational put a smile on the Spartans' faces.

"We haven't had a full practice yet with all our players, and this is our 18th day of girls basketball and we haven't had that," said Spartans coach Sandy De Craene, whose team was missing a likely starter and a pair of key reserves, "so it's kind of hard."

"Definitely, this win is really, really great for us, and I can't wait to see where the rest of the season goes," added Spartans senior Elena Castenada, who made two free throws with 42.8 seconds to play to give St. Francis all the points it would need.

They were her only points of the game, but Castenada felt comfortable at the free-throw line with the game in doubt.

"We do a lot of free throws at practice and honestly, for me it was more remembering my routine and sticking to it rather than just worrying about whether it went in or not," Castenada said.

For a while in the fourth quarter, it seemed St. Francis would take control of the game.

Junior Maddie Petranek's 3-pointer with 5:18 to play gave the Spartans (1-0) a 10-point lead. But the Red Devils (0-1) scored 13 points in the final 3:35 to keep it close.

"It was a thriller," De Craene said. "First-game jitters. Young kids. I mean you had sophomores and juniors playing, so you're going to have those mistakes. It's just they have to keep their composure, and that's what they kind of lost during the game.

"But at the end with the free throws, I tell the kids, free throws win ballgames, and we had those free throws at the end with Elena and one with Katie (Anne De Craene) that helped seal the deal, so to speak."

Hinsdale Central sophomore Eleanor Monyek's steal and three-point play with 1:39 left cut the St. Francis lead to 31-29, and senior Sarah Cernugel's 3-pointer off a Nina Sarros pass cut the lead to 33-32.

"Finally at the end they started to get after it and play," Red Devils coach Karen Persinger said. "Too little, too late. But it was good to see them shake out of those first-game jitters, put something together that we can build on."

Junior Maggie Culver led St. Francis with 9 points, and junior Kate Chaparro and Katie Anne De Craene scored 7 apiece.

Laine Randle and Monyek each scored 9 for the Red Devils.