Sports
Girls Basketball: JCA Celebrates Senior Night in Style
Joliet Catholic 54, St. Viator 42. The Angels use a balanced scoring attack to finish the regular season on a positive note.
The Hot Read: Joliet Catholic will take some much-needed momentum into the postseason after beating visiting St. Viator 54-42 Wednesday in an East Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball matchup to close the regular season. The Angels stormed out to a 12-2 lead and, while they weren’t able to hold on to the advantage, they were in control of the game most of the way. St. Viator rallied to take its lone lead at 18-17, but JCA closed the first half strong and led 24-20 at the break. After the Angels took a 36-30 lead after three quarters, the Lions got as close as 42-39 with 4:52 remaining, but JCA closed on a 12-3 run to seal the victory.
Patch’s MVP: Joliet Catholic senior Vanessa Owusu celebrated Senior Night with one of her better performances of the season. The 5-foot-10 center recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead a balanced attack.
Key stats: Joliet Catholic broke open a tight game by making 12-of-16 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Angels also missed just four shots in the second half, making an impressive 9-of-13 (69 percent).
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Joliet Catholic Leaders: Naomi Mayes (15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals), Vanessa Owusu (13 points, 10 rebounds, steal), Meghan Novak (14 points, 2 steals), Meghan Williams (7 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks).
St. Viator Leaders: Lauren Rooney (9 points, 12 rebounds), Emily Leazer (9 points, 3 rebounds), Taylor Skala (9 points).
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Quotable I: Joliet Catholic coach Ed Schodrof on closing the regular season on a positive note: “It’s a good feeling. It’s been up and down and the last few weeks have been real rough with our conference. I knew this would be a nail-biter all the way. It was a great basketball game.”
Quotable II: Joliet Catholic senior Vanessa Owusu on earning a hard-fought ESCC victory: “I had faith that we could beat a team like this. We really wanted to get this win. This was a good win for us.”
Team records: Joliet Catholic (13-12, 3-6 in East Suburban Catholic Conference); St. Viator (13-16, 1-8 in ESCC).
What’s next: Joliet Catholic will begin postseason play at 8:10 p.m. Monday in the Class 3A Morris Regional. The Angels are seeded No. 3 in the regional and will take on No. 6 Kankakee. The winner will face No. 2 Ottawa in the regional semifinal Feb. 16. Lincoln-Way West is the top seed.
