Girls Basketball: Guerin holds off Rosary

Updated: January 10, 2012 9:46PM

Jackie Bartnicki’s hot shooting from three-point range and Kalie DiNunno’s clutch free throws in the fourth quarter propelled Guerin to a 53-45 victory over Suburban Christian Gold rival Rosary on Tuesday night in River Grove.

Bartnicki led the Gators with 18 points, all of which came from beyond the arc, while DiNunno scored 14 going 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final four minutes of the contest.

Sophomore Becky Bartnicki added 10 points for the Gators while Rosary junior forward Karly Tate led all scorers with 19 points.

“I had a lot of confidence that my shots would go in, and I had plenty of encouragement from my teammates,” Jackie Bartnicki said. “They said, ‘You’re hot. Keep shooting.’ It helped our momentum a lot.”

Guerin (18-3, 5-1) held the lead or was tied for the entire first half until Rosary’s Sydney Zaragoza and Tate added a free throw each to make it a two-point Royals lead with 48.2 seconds left. Bartnicki erased that with a three just 13 seconds later giving the Gatoros a slim 28-27 halftime edge.

Rosary (7-11, 1-5) regained the lead early in the second half with one of Tate’s two threes on the day, but a pair of threes from Jackie Bartnicki shortly thereafter gave the Gators the lead for good.

“We had a lot of turnovers,” said Rosary coach Dave Beebe. “Guerin’s defensive intensity picked up, and I’ll give them credit for that. We were right with them until the last three minutes, but we have to take care of the ball a little better.”

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