Klatt, Sawyer lead Stevenson over New Trier

Sophomore Emory Klatt was a big force on the boards for Stevenson as she pulled down 17 of them on Friday night. She had about half of them on the offensive side that led to a 22-point effort with 5 blocked shots.

Penn recruit Simone Sawyer poured in a game-high 27 points and had 9 steals that led Stevenson past visiting New Trier 64-46 in part of the New Trier Girls Invitational.

"I think its all the from the team that drives me so much to get to the basket," Klatt said. "There's so much energy and that's a big part of it. It's kind of an automatic thing that coach (Ashley) Graham taught me. Just be relentless with everything you do. As soon as the ball leaves the hand just go right to the basket."

Stevenson (2-0) was in a battle with New Trier (2-1) through the opening quarter and into the early part of the second. The Patriots lead 11-10 about a minute into the quarter. That's when Sawyer hit a 3-pointer and scored 11 of 13 consecutive Patriots points for a 24-10 advantage with 3 minutes left.

"We did have a rough first quarter and it took a little bit to find our groove," Sawyer said. "I think in games we have to come out stronger. We just kept shooting and that's one of our strengths. Whenever we're down, we are supposed to keep fighting and keep fighting. That's all we needed for the team. The momentum totally shifted and we got everyone involved more. The momentum changed and our energy changed."

The Patriots held a 34-23 lead by the break and had a 49-34 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

"New Trier is so well-coached and I look up to Teri (Rodgers) as a friend and a mentor," Graham said. "Their last two games we've seen just how deep they are and all of their guards can shoot the 3. They run the post so well and run so hard. We knew that we had our work cut out for us. I thought we rose to it and it was a really tough second game. I expect New Trier to have so much success this year."

Stevenson saw New Trier chip away at the lead and cut it to 8 at one point in the fourth before the Patriots took firm control of the outcome.

"Our ability when the tide would turn and we would lean on our experience," Graham said. "When some things don't go our way and the way they play through things It's special and I'm blessed to be their coach."

Casey Scharoff led the Trevians with 16 points and Caitlin Pedraja added 8.

"(Stevenson) was a good team and they played harder then we did," Rodgers said. "It does make a difference. They made us battle more on the boards in the second quarter that helped them take a big lead. We just made too many mistakes and you can't make mistakes like that. I was proud of the kids with they kept battling and cut the lead to 8. We just made a couple of mistakes that you can't make at this level to be able to win these kind of games. These kind of games we don't lose, we learn early in November."