Girls Basketball: Hinsdale South surprises Marian Catholic

Updated: December 29, 2011 11:46PM

Hinsdale South’s Andrea McNally was not heading into uncharted waters stepping to the free-throw line with her team leading No. 22 Marian Catholic by two points and 12.9 seconds remaining Thursday at the Montini Christmas Tournament.

“It’s funny, I actually had a situation like that earlier in the year when we played Downers Grove South,” the 5-foot-11 senior guard said. “We were up by two and I had to hit those free throws. My sophomore year I had to do it, too.

“I have had a little bit of practice,” she said. “Too much, if you ask me.”

McNally calmly sank both ends of the bonus opportunity, and Hinsdale South (10-3) held on to surprise Marian Catholic 45-41 in a meeting of Pool B champion Spartans and Pool A runner-up Hornets.

“This is definitely the biggest win of the season for us,” McNally said. “This is going to give us confidence, to be able to handle that kind of defense coming off the Montini game and losing by one, this is definitely going to help us.”

Hinsdale South led from the 7:22 mark of the first quarter until Amber Williams (eight points) gave Marian Catholic (9-6) a brief 40-39 lead with 3:40 remaining in the game. The Spartans trailed by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and by nine beginning the fourth.

“We missed a lot of easy shots and put our heads down,” Marian Catholic coach Annie Byrne said. “We could have just worried about getting back on defense. Or maybe we made a silly mistake and instead of allowing that to be the end of it, we allowed it to dictate entire course of the game.

“They came out hot, they hit some nice shots, made some tough shots, and we just put our heads down and let them control the game instead of saying, ‘OK, they’re hot. We need to make sure we have a hand in their face, make them put the ball on the ground and stick to the game plan.

“It’s not like we gave up on the defensive end, but if you concentrate more on what you’re not doing versus what you need to do, those mistakes are bound to continue to occur,” she added.

Toni Romiti had a game-high 16 points for Hinsdale South, while McNally and Natalie Tomerlin each had nine. Uzo Okoro contributed seven points and eight rebounds.

Teniya Page led Marian Catholic with 12 points and Ashton Millender had 11.

“This is our best win of the year,” Hinsdale South coach Jen Belmonte said. “We had a game plan and the girls pulled it off perfectly. They played very composed. I couldn’t ask for more. They did everything I asked them to do.”

Earlier Thursday, Stekara Hall and Caroline Kelty each had 18 points to lead Oak Park (4-12) past Westinghouse 73-41; and China Davis had 25 points and Caitlin Garanet added 17 as Bogan (9-7) defeated Guerin Catholic (Ind.) 72-54.

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