Fenwick graduated four starters from last season’s team that defeated Mother McAuley 63-52 in the St. Xavier supersectional and went on to finish second in the state.
McAuley returned four starters and 11 players who played in that game almost 10 months ago.
No matter. The precocious Friars defeated host McAuley 70-63 in a Sweet 16 tournament game Saturday.
Fenwick had four players score in double figures, and fittingly, one from each class year.
Senior Kristin Heidloff led the way with 18 points, junior Brittany Johnson, who missed the supersectional while recovering from knee surgery, scored 13, sophomore Maggie Kloak added 11 points and freshman Alison Jackson scored 10 points for the Friars.
“We have good balanced scoring,” said Fenwick coach Dave Power. “That’s the key to our team this year.”
After spotting No. 15 McAuley an early 8-2 lead, No. 8 Fenwick (13-2) quickly responded with a 10-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished.
The Friars hit the Mighty Macs with a 14-0 run to take a commanding 33-13 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the second quarter.
But Joanna Varikos came off the bench for the Mighty Macs and hit two three-pointers in the final 70 seconds of the first half to key a 9-0 run and pull the Mighty Macs to within 37-32.
Varikos hit two more three-pointers in the third quarter, each time pulling the Mighty Macs to within one, but Fenwick did not wilt.
After another Varikos three pulled McAuley to within 45-44 with 1:53 left in the third quarter, Fenwick went on a 10-0 run and McAuley (13-4) never again got closer than five.
Varikos finished with career highs of 19 points and five three-pointers. Senior center Karen Kinsley scored 15 points for McAuley, while Katie Corley came off the bench to score 10.
Four-year-starter Heidloff thought Fenwick’s loss to New Trier in the semifinals of the Dundee-Crown tournament Monday night–when the Friars lost a lead and were buried with a 16-0 run–taught her young teammates a useful lesson that paid off.
“We didn’t lose our composure when [McAuley] got close,” she said. “In the New Trier game we got really flustered. We had New Trier down and let them come back. We learned from [that] game. We didn’t want that to happen again.”
