OP_021617

opprairie.com sports
the orland park prairie | February 16, 2017 | 55
fastbreak
Girls Basketball
Sandburg’s regular season ends in rough loss to Bolingbrook
1st and 3
Mark Korosa/
22nd Century Media
Standout
Performance
1. Maddie Giglio
The freshman
(ABOVE) won the allaround
title Thursday,
Feb. 9, at the
Oswego Sectional.
She tied for first in
all-around (36.500),
and won beam
(9.325) and floor
(9.325). She also
qualified for state on
vault (9.275) by tying
for fifth place.
2. Patrick Brucki
The Sandburg grappler
was dominant at
the Downers Grove
North Sectional,
claiming the title at
195 pounds to advance
to state on his
quest for a championship.
3. Ryan Iaciancio
The goalie for the
Providence hockey
club registered two
shutouts against St.
Rita to help his team
sweep the semifinals
series en route to the
Kennedy Cup Finals.
As playoffs loom,
coach reflects on
difficulties of season
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
The final regular season
game for the Sandburg girls
basketball team was like a
microcosm of its season —
a poor start, a really good
middle but fading down the
stretch.
That was the case when the
Eagles lost to host Bolingbrook
51-29 in the final
regular season game for both
teams Thursday, Feb. 9, in a
Blue Division matchup in the
SouthWest Suburban Conference.
It was senior night for the
Raiders (16-9, 7-3), who
started senior guard Jnaya
Walker as a nice gesture, after
she tore her anterior cruciate
ligament Jan. 26 against
Stagg.
After Bolingbrook won
the tip, it called timeout and
removed Walker from the
game.
The loss was the fifth
straight and ninth in 10 games
for Sandburg (10-19, 1-9).
To open the season, the
Eagles lost 8-of-9 games.
But in the middle they won
8-of-10, including the title
of the Oak Lawn tournament
and fifth place at Hillcrest, to
climb back to an overall record
of 9-10 by Jan. 4.
It has been rough going
since, though.
“We were within [six]
points, and then all of the
sudden it was 20,” Sandburg
first-year coach Nick
Fotopoulos said of the
Bolingbrook game. “That’s
how our season has gone. A
rough start, then we played
good basketball.
“But then our conference
schedule hit, and it was a
struggle. We’ve played a lot
of good teams, and our record
is what it is.”
The game also unfortunately
highlighted another
thing that has plagued the
Eagles this season: a lack
of scoring. Against Bolingbrook,
they had four players
with a team-high four points.
One of them was sophomore
guard Natalie Stavropoulos,
who scored Sandburg’s first
four points.
“I feel like we’ve looked
too much individually to
score,” Stavropoulos said.
“If someone is on a roll, we
have to recognize that.”
Stavropoulos was that
person early, as she hit a
3-pointer in the opening
minutes for the Eagles’ only
lead at 3-2. Then, with 4
minutes and 58 seconds left
in the first quarter, she added
a free throw to tie the game
at 4-4.
But Bolingbrook went on
a 10-0 run to close out the
first quarter with a 14-4 lead.
Junior forward Jahari Smith
(11 rebounds) scored eight
of her game-high 15 points
in the opening quarter for the
Raiders, who tied Lincoln-
Way East for second place
in the conference behind
Homewood-Flossmoor.
The lead ballooned to
20-5 when junior guard Gabriella
Smith (13 points) hit
a 3-pointer with 7:08 left
in the second quarter. The
game was stopped at that
point, as Smith hit the 1,000
career point mark on the
shot, joining Jahari Smith
— no relation — in reaching
that mark.
Trailing 23-7, the Eagles
fought back, as five different
players scored in a 10-2
burst in the final 3:08 of the
first half. That narrowed their
deficit to 25-17 at halftime.
Things looked even better
when junior guard Morgan
McAuliffe (4 points) opened
the third quarter with a layup.
She was fouled on the play
but missed the free throw,
leaving the score 25-19.
At that point, things
seemed to be going Sandburg’s
way. But it was shortlived,
as senior forward
Talia Edwards (9 points,
6 rebounds) scored seven
points in a 15-0 run, which
gave the Raiders a 40-19
lead with 1:50 left in the
third quarter.
“I feel like we don’t come
out as ready as we need to
be,” Stavropoulos said. “We
need to push through it and
play more as a team. When
we’re playing well, we have
a lot of confidence. But it’s
hard when we’re not making
shots.”
Freshman guard Danyel
“That’s how our season has gone
— a rough start, then we played
good basketball.”
Nick Fotopoulos — Sandburg girls basketball
coach
Middleton literally shot the
lights out when she hit a
jumper from the left baseline
with just less than a halfminute
to play in the third
quarter. The scoreboard
went out briefly after that
shot, which gave the Raiders
a 42-24 lead — where it remained
at the quarter break.
It also started another
11-0 run that carried into the
fourth quarter. That was the
third double-digit Bolingbrook
burst of the game.
“We [are] competitive,
but then we have turnovers,”
said Fotopoulos, whose team
had 18 of them. “And we’re
offensively challenged. We
missed a lot of layups and
free throws.”
Sandburg was 10-of-41
(24 percent) from the field
and 6-of-14 (43 percent)
from the free throw line. Senior
guard Grace Bauer and
junior post player Nicole
Poole also added four points
for the Eagles, who were out
rebounded 36-26, and have
scored 35 points or less nine
times this season.
If the game mirrors Sandburg’s
season, then there
was a glimmer of hope at
the end, as the Raiders did
not score for the final 4:30
of the game. The Eagles had
the last five points. Junior
forward Erin Greenfield (3
points, 5 rebounds) scored
all her points in that span.
“We think we match up
well with Lincoln-Way Central,”
said Fotopoulos of his
team’s initial playoff opponent.
“We wanted to work on
some things in this [Bolingbrook]
game to get ready for
[Lincoln-Way Central].”
The Eagles only have four
seniors. They are Bauer, Megan
Hardesty, Maeve Hennessy
and Kennedy Sabutis.
They had to be ready Tuesday,
Feb. 14, when No. 10
seeded Sandburg faced the
host No. 7 seeded Knights in
a Class 4A regional semifinal
at Lincoln-Way Central.
The winner of that would
likely face No. 2 seeded
Marist (or its regional semifinal
opponent) at 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 17, in the regional
title game. The winner
of that will advance to
the semifinals of the Shepard
Sectional at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,
Feb. 21, against the winner
of the Andrew Regional.
LISTEN UP
“I knew it was an elimination game for them, so I knew
that they were going to bring everything that they had.
We prepared. We knew what they had coming in.”
Ryan Iaciancio — Providence hockey club goalie, on his team being ready
for St. Rita in the semifinals
What 2 Watch
Wrestling — Feb. 16-18, at the State Farm
Center in Champaign
• Sure, it’s quite the haul, but to watch the
Eagles’ Patrick Brucki try to complete his
quest for a championship at 195 pounds, it
may be well worth it.
INDEX
48 - Athlete of the Week
48 - This Week In
Compiled by Editor Bill Jones, bill@opprairie.com.