Proviso East Upends Friars in Sectional

ELMHURST— Fenwick girls basketball coach Dave Power could sense Tuesday night’s sectional semifinal game against Proviso East was beginning to slip away, even though the Friars held a 24-15 halftime lead.

Proviso East shot just 6 of 24 from the floor during the first half, but Fenwick couldn’t capitalize on the Pirates’ cold shooting because the Friars weren’t much better ay 8 of 22.

Unfortunately for the Friars, Proviso East regained its shooting touch during the second half, overtook Fenwick in the fourth quarter and marched on to a 56-44 victory.

The Friars, , finished the year 26-4. Meanwhile, Proviso East (29-2) advances to Thursday night’s sectional final opposite Trinity, which upended Bartlett in Tuesday’s other sectional semifinal game, 62-54.

“Our shooting was so cold, even in the first half,” Power said. “We just couldn’t knock shots down, and then we started turning it over a little bit. In the third quarter, they made runs at us and we were holding on. Finally, once they got the lead we had to extend our defense and they got easy shots.”

Proviso East pulled to within one point of the Friars six times in the second half, and took its first lead of the contest, 42-40, with 4:32 remaining on a trey by University of Illinois recruit Ivory Crawford.

Senior Sara Williams, who led the Friars with 14 points, tied the game momentarily on a layup off a feed from freshman guard Jade Owens. But the Pirates poured it on from there, going on a 10-0 run to end the game and the Friars’ season.

“Proviso East, when all was said and done, it’s a tough matchup for us, especially when we start chasing (them on the court),” Power said. “When we had control, I just felt the first half if we would have hit a few more shots and maybe pushed the lead up, we would have had a little more to weather the storm.

“When you play a Proviso East team, you know at some point the storm is going to come. We just couldn’t survive it tonight.”

Williams, who’ll play her collegiate basketball at Lehigh, tallied eight points in the first half to lift the Friars to their halftime lead.

“Our defense the first half, you couldn’t ask for anything more,” Power said. “Our defense was fantastic, but our offense just wasn’t there tonight. Proviso East beat a very, very good Fenwick team. I love these girls. A lot of people counted them out early in the year.”

The Pirates avenged a 60-57 loss to the Friars at the Niles North Thanksgiving tournament earlier this season.

“They only have a couple of losses, and we beat them earlier in the year,” Power said. “It was a close game like this, too. It was one of those things where who would make the move late. They made the push (tonight) and we just had trouble responding.”

Junior center Meredith Boardman finished with nine points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. The Friars say goodbye to six seniors: Williams, Katheen Roche, Kyra Navarrete, Hannah Ballard, Heather Casper and Kalley Boyd.

“This group right now, what’s special about these girls is after a tough loss like this, they’re not talking basketball; they’re talking about their relationships and how they’re going to miss one another,” Power said. “We had a solid six seniors. I look at it as a successful season. Yeah, we didn’t take it as far as we would have liked to, but our hats off to Proviso East.”

Proviso East 56, Fenwick 44

Proviso East—Crawford 5 2-4 14, Jak. Wells 2 1-2 5, Jordan 6 7-10 19, Welch 3 0-1 6, Jones 5 0-2 12, Jal. Wells 0 0-0 0, Broadwater 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 10-19 56.

Fenwick—Owens 1 0-2 2, Roche 1 3-5 6, Navarrete 3 0-0 7, Williams 5 4-4 14, Ballard 1 0-0 2, Burchette 1 2-2 4, Boardman 4 1-5 9, Devereux 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 10-18 44.

Score by quarters

Proviso East     5      15     18     23—56

Fenwick              10    14     14     6—44

Three point baskets: Proviso East 4 (Crawford 2, Jones 2), Fenwick 2 (Roche, Navarrete). Total fouls: Proviso East 16, Fenwick 16 (Roche fouled out). Turnovers: Proviso East 18, Fenwick 20.