Biggins scores 26, shoots St. Edward over Wheaton Academy
Brooke Biggins simply wasn't going to let St. Edward lose on Senior Night.
Playing the entire 32 minutes, Biggins scored 26 points with 4 assists and 5 steals.
The senior guard's effort was enough to produce a 54-49 victory for the Green Wave over pesky Wheaton Academy in Metro Suburban crossover action in Elgin Thursday night.
Biggins was 9-of-12 from the floor, 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line for the winners.
The Wave, which won their seventh straight game, move to 10-9 for the season.
"It was all about matchups," said Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson. "Brooke gave us great energy with her athleticism to start the game."
Biggins scored 8 of St. Edward's first 9 points as the hosts led 9-1 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.
"I was happy we got the home win on Senior Night," said Biggins. "My teammates gave me great assists."
Wheaton Academy's first basket of the game came at 4:40 on a 12-footer in the lane by Emma Tate to make the score 10-3.
Leading 28-25 at halftime, St. Edward scored the first 8 points of the second half on a pair of 3s from Biggins and a driving layup from Alexia Alfaro to go up 36-25 with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
The visiting Warriors refused to quit. Wheaton Academy's first points of the second half came on a 3-pointer by Jillian Paulson to make the score 36-28 with 4:22 left in the third quarter.
Wheaton Academy methodically whittled away at the Wave's and took its only lead at 49-48 on a 3 by Paulson with 2:22 left.
Those would be the last points the Warriors would score.
On a layup by Alfaro and 2 free throws each by Biggins and Delaney Lutzow, St. Edward closed out the game on a 6-0 run to win by 5.
Alfaro, connecting on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, backed up Biggins with 15 points.
"This was our second straight 4-game week," said Dawson. "We were certainly fatigued."
Connecting on 7-of-15 from 3-point range, Wheaton Academy got three 3s from Paulson and 2 each by Tate and Olivia Rinde. Paulson led the Warriors with 18 points followed by Tate with 17 and Rinde with 10, 7 in the fourth quarter.
St. Edward was coming off a 42-38 win over Larkin on Wednesday in the Elgin City Tournament. Alfaro led the Wave with 14 points and 7 rebounds, Maggie Jarzemsky grabbed 15 boards.