To Mother McAuley senior Tracy Grapenthin the final shot of the game wasn’t real.
To her coach, Rick Mundo, the game-tying three point attempt by Fenwick’s Erin Lawless was going to be another miracle by Fenwick.
But when Lawless’ shot bounced five heart-stopping times off the rim, with the final bounce falling just inches away from tying the game, the reality set in for the frantic McAuley fans. Mother McAuley had pulled off a 50-47 upset of No. 3 and defending state champion Fenwick (30-4).
“Holy cow, when that ball bounced around the rim about nine times I thought, `There we go–it’s Fenwick and we’re going overtime'” Mundo said after an emotional reaction by him and his players after the win. “There must have been a draft because I thought it was going in.”
With the win McAuley (23-10) wins its ninth sectional title and first since 1997. The Mighty Macs will advance to Monday night’s supersectional at St. Xavier College where they will face No. 1 Marian Catholic, a 67-59 winner over No. 9 Hillcrest in the Thornridge sectional.
McAuley trailed the entire game until Grapenthin hit her third three-pointer of the fourth quarter putting her team ahead 45-44 with 5 minutes 10 seconds left. Lawless, who scored the Friars first 10 points of the game, then scored her 23rd and final points to put the Friars back up 47-46 with 1:35 left.
Then Grapenthin, playing on a badly sprained ankle, came through again with a short jumper with 48 seconds left for what would prove to be the winning points.
Teammate Bridget Boyce hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left before Lawless’ cardiac three-point attempt.
“When I heard the buzzer go off I didn’t think we won,” Grapenthin said after scoring 11 of her 13 points off the bench in the fourth quarter to lead the Mighty Macs comeback.
“I thought it was going into overtime.”
