Barrington rallies from 18 down, stuns Stevenson in OT in Komaromy semifinals
It was a rematch of the 2022 Class 4A state title game when defending champion Stevenson faced Barrington in the semifinals of the 39th Annual Komaromy Classic girls basketball tourney Wednesday night at Dundee-Crown.
Behind the strength of junior forward Emory Klatt's 16 points, the Patriots held the upper hand as they took a 22-14 lead into halftime of this low-scoring affair.
Stevenson (10-6) continued to shine early in the third quarter extending the lead to 36-18 late in the period before the Fillies began what was an unlikely and furious comeback to force overtime at 45-45 before posting a thrilling 56-53 victory to advance to the championship game against Maine South Thursday night.
Barrington closed out the third quarter with a 7-point run to cut the lead to 36-25 before a steal and basket by Purdue-bound senior Sophie Swanson (19 of team-high 22 points in second half) capped an incredible 16-3 run to deadlock the score at 43-43 with 1:05 to play.
Stevenson's Nisha Musunuri (19 points) scored on a drive to give the Patriots a 45-43 lead with 45 seconds left in regulation, but Swanson hit two free throws with 31 seconds left to force overtime tied at 45-45.
Trailing 54-53, Stevenson had plenty of time as they set up a potential game-winning basket. But Barrington's Gwen Adler (15 points, 13 rebounds) came up with a huge steal with just eight seconds to go before Swanson hit two free throws with 4.5 seconds to play to seal the unbelievable comeback win by the Fillies.
"We really pulled together as a team in the second half. We came out with more energy, and being able to beat them is a good feeling," said Swanson, whose team lost three times to the Pats last season. "I think our energy was a big component in that (16-3) run, and it was a good time to have it right at the end."
Klatt wound up with a game-high 24 points while Barrington's Molly O'Riordan scored 8 points and grabbed 7 rebounds before fouling out with 2:01 left in overtime. Sarah Bauernfreund scored 7 points for the Fillies.
"We went into the fourth quarter up 11 feeling pretty good," said Stevenson coach Ashley Graham. "There's obviously some things we'll go back and work on situationally, and no lead is safe the way Sophie shoots the 3."
Barrington beat Maine South by two points early in the 2022-23 season.
"I have a lot of respect for Ashley and the job she does with her teams, and we just came out flat," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "We talked a lot at halftime about changing the intensity, and we talked about fighting and being the Barrington team we know we can be."