OP_121516

38 | December 15, 2016 | The orland park prairie SPORTS
opprairie.com
Eagles start strong, but Andrew forces OT, steals the win
Jon DePaolis
Freelance Reporter
Sandburg’s Emily Lewandowski analyzes the court to look
for a play against Andrew.
One point was all she
needed.
With 10.1 seconds left
in overtime of a tight game
between Consolidated High
School District 230 rivals
Sandburg and Andrew on
Dec. 6, Thunderbolts freshman
guard Mia Signore
stood at the charity stripe,
looking to make a deposit
that would give her team a
two-possession lead.
That type of pressure can
be overwhelming for most
players, let alone an underclassman.
But Signore, who had tied
the game up on a 3-pointer
with 29 seconds left in the
fourth quarter, said she was
thinking just one thing.
“I was just thinking,
‘When I make these, it’s
over, and we’ll have beaten
our rivals,’” she said.
Signore drained the first
free throw, making it a fourpoint
lead and icing the
game for the T-Bolts (3-5),
who held on for the comefrom-behind
52-48 victory
in Orland Park. Signore finished
with a team-leading 21
points — 16 of which she
scored in the second half.
Andrew freshman forward
Isis Fitch chipped in
12 points (including 4 points
in overtime), while junior
guard Kayla Langowski
added 9 points on three
3-pointers.
For a team with three
freshmen and three sophomores
and just one senior,
the T-Bolts’ showed poise
down the stretch to come
back and win the game.
“Being young doesn’t stop
us from being our best, and
we don’t let our age get to
us,” Signore said. “We play
together and make it work.”
Signore was a big part of
that, particularly in the second
half. And with the game
on the line, she shined.
After a failed possession
by Sandburg late in
the fourth quarter, Signore
found herself with the ball
with roughly a half-minute
to play and her team down
three points.
“I was dribbling up the
court, and everyone was
guarded,” she said. “I made
a quick crossover, and I was
wide open. There wasn’t a
lot of time left, so I shot it.”
The basket was a nodoubter,
tying the game at
43, and the T-Bolts forced
the Eagles to have to take a
shot from the perimeter at
the buzzer, which missed.
Andrew coach Bobby
Matz said his team’s defense
in the second half really
made a big difference.
He also credited Signore’s
hot shooting for getting her
teammates open looks late
Sandburg girls basketball coach Nick Fotopoulos gives instructions to his team during a
game against District 230 rival Andrew. Photos by Jon DePaolis/22nd Century Media
in the fourth, as well as in
overtime.
“Her strength with the
ball and her confidence going
places drew attention,
opening up other people,”
Matz said. “She made some
unselfish looks in transition,
too.”
But before the big comeback,
Andrew was looking
at the possibility of having
blown a first-quarter lead. After
starting on a 6-0 run, the
T-Bolts ended the first quarter
with a 13-9 lead, as Langowski
hit a 3-pointer and
Signore scored on a layup.
To start the second quarter,
Fitch bookended two
jump shots between a basket
by Sandburg’s Erin Greenfield
(11 points) to make it
17-11 Andrew.
But after that, the Eagles
went on a 10-1 run to take
the lead at 21-18 with approximately
1:31 left in the
half. Sandburg’s Grace Bauer
(11 points) scored seven
in the first half, while sophomore
guard Natalie Stavropoulos
added four points.
But with 3.1 seconds left
in the second quarter, Signore
was fouled in the paint,
and she hit both of her free
throws to end the half 21-20
Sandburg.
In the third, Sandburg
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