Girls Basketball: St Edward outlasts Timothy Christian

Updated: December 30, 2011 10:20PM

After seeing more of her shots clang off iron than she cares to remember, St. Edward’s Madeline Kerr got the ball Friday with her team trailing Timothy Christian 39-37 and 1:05 remaining.

“I thought to myself that I’d taken enough shots, I might as well take another one and see what happens,’ “ Kerr said.

After going 1-of-13 from the floor, though, and 0-for-7 from three-point range, Kerr hit nothing but net for a lead the Green Wave never relinquished in a 43-42 victory for the championship of the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic.

“Maddie was saying that she was ‘air-balling’ all those shots,’ “ said St. Edward tournament MVP Callie Johnson. “I don’t care if she missed every single shot as long as she made that shot. That was the shot.”

St. Edward had rallied from a 35-25 fourth-quarter deficit, but still needed to force three turnovers in the last minute after Kerr’s three-pointer to claim the victory. The biggest plays were a steal by Johnson in the press near mid-court with 50.6 seconds left and Rena Ranallo’s steal out of the press with 7.8 seconds left.

After Johnson’s steal, Ranallo, who led St. Edward with 11 points, made two free throws for a 42-39 lead. After Ranallo’s steal, Kelly Tripicchio made 1-of-2 foul shots for the 43-39 lead that let St. Edward withstand a last-second three-pointer by Kailey Durkin.

“They feel like the air just got taken out of their balloon,” Timothy Christian coach Ryan Dekoekkoek said. “We turned it over five of the last six times we had it.

“When youre trying to hold the lead and trying to finish the game, turnovers are the worst thing you can do.”

The Green Wave (13-3) got a layup from Tripicchio after one of Timothy Christian’s turnovers to cut the deficit to 39-37. A 12-1 run that started with Katie Swanson’s steal and layup and ended with Tripicchio’s foul shot accounted for St. Edward’s late rally.

“They had the momentum going for them, we did not have our best shooting night (17-of-45, 38 percent), way too many turnovers, we got killed on the boards (35-25), but somehow we found a way to gut it out at the end,” St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. “It was with contributions from everyone on the floor, from Alex (Lee’s) huge rebounds for us to a couple steals by our guards.”

Lee had six points and seven rebounds, while Johnson had eight points and four rebounds and three steals. Ranallo had five steals

Timothy Christian (10-4) shot 36 percent from the floor (15-of-42) and had 14 points from Cassidy Block and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Tessa Bosman.

“We just had to get that fire in us to get ahead -- you can’t give up hope,” Johnson said of the comeback. “That’s what we did and pulled it out.”

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