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Clark sets career mark at St. Viator

After 21 years, there is a new all-time leading scorer for the St. Viator girls basketball program.

Senior guard Myia Clark, who will continue her career at Saint Louis University next fall, scored 19 points to surpass Denise Walker's former mark of 1,523 points on Thursday night in Woodstock.

And it was Clark's 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left in overtime that lifted the Lions to a dramatic 55-54 decision over Marian Central Catholic, giving the Lions (14-6, 1-3) their first win this season in the East Suburban Catholic contest.

Just as dramatic, the Hurricanes (15-9, 1-3) rushed down the floor for a game-tying 3-pointer.

St. Viator coach Jason Raymond employed Maddie Fitzpatrick to face-guard Miami of Ohio recruit Vannessa Garrelts (22 points), who raced down the floor in the final seconds. Clark was also in pursuit as part of a double-team on the 5-foot-5 senior all-state guard.

Garrelts managed to toss home a 35-footer before the buzzer. However, even though she kept her dribble, she fell on her knees just before releasing the shot and was called for traveling.

"That was a fun one," Raymond said. "I wish it had been at St. Viator."

Clark went into the game needing 8 points to break the mark of 1996 graduate Denise Walker and now has 1,535 points for her four-year varsity career.

Walker is still in the program, serving as a freshman coach.

"After 21 years, I am finally passing the torch and I wish Myia nothing but the best," said Walker, who played forward for the Lions in the mid-1990s. "She is deserving of this. She is a tremendous player for the program and I am excited for her. When you work hard at your game and practice a lot, this is what happens."

Clark reached the milestone in the second half. She also had 14 rebounds and 5 assists.

"Becoming the all-time leading scorer in the program is a tremendous honor for Myia," Raymond said. "She has put in a lot of hard work at St. Viator and with her AAU team. She is tremendously passianate about the game.

"The greatest thing about this accomplishment is how unselfish a player she is. Ninety nine percent of the time she will give up the shot if she can get the assist. Scoring this many points is an unbelievable accolade for her but she is more than that - she is a complate player and so unselfish."

After Clark hit the bucket for the school record, the Lions used her as a decoy on the very next play.

Coming off a double screen, junior Natalie Krause slipped open and hit a big 3-pointer. Krause finished with 11 points while senior guard Olivia Solimene added 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Haley Robinson chipped in 7 points for Viator which returns to action on Monday at 7 p.m. against Resurrection when Clark will play her first game at the Cahill Gymnasium as the Lions' all-time scoring leader.

"It's probably a little bit of a weight off her shoulders," Raymond said. "We've talked a lot about it the last couple of weeks. Once she got it (the record), it looked like she was able to relax and be more in an attack mode. We put her the ball in her hands the whole second half and let her be the playmaker. She came up with some big drives to the basket."

Janelle Allen, a 6-1 sophomore forward, scored a game-high 27 points for Marian Central.

"We were more concerned about stopping those two players than worrying about who was scoring for us," Raymond said about Garrelts and Allen, who combined for 49 of the Hurricanes' 54 points. "It became a shootout with these big scorers."

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