St. Francis holds off Glenbard South

For awhile in the second half, St. Francis panicked a bit and got away from playing team basketball.

But the Spartans regained their composure down the stretch and held off Glenbard South 42-39 in the semifinals of the Class 3A Burlington Central regional on Tuesday.

The Spartans will face the host Rockets for the regional title at 7 p.m. Thursday.

A putback by Kate Chaparro put St. Francis ahead for good 37-35. A free throw by Katie Anne De Craene made it 38-35 and the teams traded free throws before Lauren Cohen drove the lane for a layup to get the Raiders within 1 with 8.8 seconds left. But the Raiders couldn't stop the inbounds and took five seconds to foul. Maggie Culver then made two free throws for the final margin.

Glenbard South got an open look at a tying 3-pointer, but it was off.

"Toward the middle there when we got all nervous, we weren't composed, and so really coach (Sandy De Craene) was just harping on us that we've got to really play as a team and stay focused," Chaparro said. "And we really played as a team at the end there."

That team concept showed up in the Spartans' balanced scoring totals. Ashley Sullivan scored 11 points for the Spartans. Chaparro finished with 10, and De Craene, Culver and Ella McDonald each scored 6.

Cohen finished with 12 points, while Akayhla Dixon and Rocky LaPonte added 11 each for Glenbard South.

Sparked by a 9-0 second-quarter run, the Spartans opened a 21-15 lead shortly after halftime. The Raiders answered with a 12-5 run of their own to go up 30-28 on a LaPonte bucket to start the fourth quarter. That's when the Spartans regrouped.

"We kept our composure," Sandy De Craene said. "We really did. A couple of times we forgot how to run the offense, and it shot us in the foot a couple of times. Once we started moving the ball around like a team and had the composure, we made some good shots."

The Spartans turned the ball over just twice in the second half, and only six times for the game. Rebounds were even at 20 apiece, with Culver leading the way with 8.

A slow-paced first half saw St. Francis fall behind 8-6 after one quarter, then score the first 9 points of the second to go up 15-8. That proved to be the biggest lead of the game for either team.