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Leyden's second-half rally leads to win over Maine East

Exactly two weeks ago, Leyden's girls basketball team dropped a 43-32 decision to Maine East at the Blenner Holiday Classic at St. Viator High School.

The Eagles exacted revenge in Park Ridge on Wednesday night with a 59-46 win over the host Blue Demons.

And Pamela Colmenares knew exactly why.

"We communicated much better," said the 5-foot-3 junior guard, who tossed home a career-high 18 points. "We were all talking on defense and we were always there for help side. We helped each other and that made a big difference."

The Eagles limited the hosts to 7 points in the final quarter when they were able to pull away.

Trailing 30-29 at intermission, Leyden fell behind 35-29 when Caralina Apostolou scored off a rebound and then hit a 3-pointer less than 1:30 into the second half.

Maine East led 37-31 on a putback by Rachel Koshy with 6:03 left.

But that's when the Eagles' defense dug in and their offense surged.

They put together a 16-2 run, capped by junior Annissa Lemon's 3-point play with 7:26 left in the fourth quarter.

Lemon finished with a game-high 20 points, converting 6 of 6 free throws.

A 3-pointer by Apostolou got Maine East to within 51-46 with 4:50 left in the game.

But the Eagles pitched a shutout the rest of the way, finishing the game with 6 unanswered points from Lemon (4 were free throws) and a pair of free throws by Colmenares with 8.4 seconds left.

For the game, Colmenares made 5-of-5 free throws with 6 field goals including a 3-pointer that got Leyden to within 27-25 in the second quarter.

"We've had a lot of different starting lineups because of injuries," said Leyden coach Stephanie Kuzmanic, a former all-area guard for Wheeling High School who is assisted by former Fenwick standout Claudette Towers. "Pam has started some game and come off the bench in some. She really stepped up tonight."

As did teammate Jasmine Igartua, playing in only her second varsity game. She was brought up to the varsity on Tuesday night when Leyden fell to Hinsdale South.

"She's a really a good player," Kuzmanic said of the 5-foot-3 sophomore. "We're really excited to see what she can do."

Igartua scored 10 points on Wednesday, including a pair of 3-pointers.

"We were settling for outside shots in our last game," Kuzmanic said. "We told them they had to take the ball to the hole. They had to take it strong and absorb the contact.

"I give their No. 1 (senior Lauryn Alba Garner) a lot of credit. She really improved a lot from the last season and she was very hard to guard."

But the Eagles (5-9) were hard to guard for East.

"In all of our wins, we've been able to put up 40 or more points," Kuzmanic said. "Today we got 59, and we had people who average 6 or 7 points stepping up with more."

Senior Jenny Ortiz chipped in 7 points and provided strong presence on the boards along with classmate Ginani Badillo, who also had a key basket in the third quarter. Artasia Gusman also scored for the Eagles who host Morton on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. .

Maine East (4-13) was led by sophomore Caralina Apostolou (17 points), junior Jackie Buczkowski (11) and Alba-Garner (9). Senior Angelina Apostolou scored 3 points in the first quarter before reinjuring her ankle.

"We've got some kids who have played together for a while and when one goes down, it messes up your psyche," said Blue Demons coach Karol Hanusiak. "We had a little mental breakdown when (Angelina Apostolou) went out.

"They (Leyden) were hitting their outside shots and we didn't do a good job defending their right side in the first half."

The Blue Demons had not played since their win over Leyden two weeks ago.

"Its tough when you beat a team and then face them again 13 days later," Hanusiak said. "You can talk and talk about how you can't take them for granted but these are high school kids. Hopefully by Friday (7:30 p.m. at Highland Park) we'll be back in the swing of things."

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