Fenwick avoids host's upset bid

Updated: March 23, 2011 2:24PM

Sarah Williams has won three regional titles during her career at Fenwick. The Lehigh-bound wasn't about to lose in her fourth season.

Williams and Kathleen Roche scored 11 points each to avoid eighth-seeded Hoffman Estates' upset bid Friday night in the Class 4A Hoffman Estates Regional final. Williams made one of the game's biggest baskets when she launched a 30-foot shot off a Jade Owens in-bounds pass for a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the third quarter.

The basket gave the Friars a seven-point lead. Top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Fenwick won 50-43 to claim its 16th consecutive regional title in 19 years of girls basketball at the school.

"That was a very good pickup. It was very good coming at the end of the third quarter," Williams said. "We were able to come out strong and finish it out."

Hoffman's leading scorer, Jada Stotts, an Austin Peay recruit in volleyball, scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half to spark the Hawks (19-9). Stotts' last basket was a three-pointer with 4:20 remaining, but the Hawks were unable to make another basket to end the game. Stotts missed her last two shots.

Sophomore Destinee Young added 12 points for Hoffman, which shot 15 of 25 at the free-throw line.

"That was a very good team on their home floor," Fenwick coach Dave Power said. "They battled. They had strong inside pressure."

Fenwick trailed 15-12 after the first quarter, but turned the game around after switching from a man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone. Hoffman made only two baskets in slightly over 14 minutes during the second and third quarters. In the third quarter, Fenwick scored 11 consecutive points to lead 35-24 with 2:27 remaining in the third.

The Hawks came within 41-40 in the fourth quarter, but owned its last lead to end the first quarter. The Friars led 43-41 and then scored five consecutive points to provide a cushion late in the final quarter.

"I always get worried, but I have confidence in the team," Williams said. "We got everything together and I knew we would come out and win one. I was not going to let it end here."

Fenwick advanced to play fourth-seeded Proviso East (28-2) in the York Sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Proviso East beat Wheaton North 54-49 Thursday night in the Glenbard West Regional final. The sectional game will be a rematch of the Niles North Thanksgiving championship game Nov. 27, won by Fenwick 60-57.

The game ended the career for Stotts, who surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season.

"All season she had done that for us," Hoffman coach Mike Nocella said. "We had a very gutsy performance from all of our kids. I'm very proud of them. We took them right into the last minute. We just couldn't get a basket."

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