If Conant senior Jill Bergmann would have sat out Saturday’s non-conference game at St. Viator, the Lions might have had a shot at winning.
However, Bergmann scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Cougars to a 63-47 victory, their 24th victory of the season in 25 games.
“(Bergmann) had an outstanding offensive game,” said Conant coach
Jerry Cunningham of Bergmann, who scored 11 of Conant’s 17 first-quarter points. “She was right where she should have been shooting.
“(Viator) has improved since the last time we played them,” added Cunningham. “I didn’t think they would shoot that hot. They were pretty hot.”
Conant continued to dominate in the second, outscoring the Lions 13-8 to lead 30-21 at the half. Another eight points from Bergmann pulled Conant even further into the lead in the third, although the Lions would not give up.
“That’s a credit to the kids. They’ve worked really hard to get
where they’re at,” said St. Viator coach Bill Murman, whose team fell to 8-16. “Conant’s got a really good basketball tradition.”
“There’s a reason why they’re 24-1,” added Murman. “Their big people aren’t just big people. Everyone did an outstanding job.”
“They just told me to shoot, I said, ‘okay’. I wasn’t going to
say, ‘no,'” said Bergmann. “I was just waiting for shots to come. They came pretty easily. I wasn’t looking for a shot. If it’s open, I’ll shoot it.”
The Lions kept up with Conant in fourth-quarter scoring (16-14).
But despite 12 points each from Nicole Maciorowski and Annie Reifsnyder, the Lions could not avoid their 16th defeat.
As Cunningham said, “With away games you never know what’s going to happen.”
