Down by one with less than 45 seconds left, junior Alexis Myers approached the top of the 3-point arc. She used her teammate’s screen to dribble past her defender, stepped back and made a 3-pointer, securing a 48-45 win in an away game against Evanston Township on Jan. 19. The Spartans beat the Wildkits for the first time in decades.
“I thought [my shot] was for two, but it was on the line and they counted it for three because it was close,” said Myers. “It was still really memorable as it was a big shot of the game because that’s what put us up a few points. And then we stopped them on the next possession and ultimately won the game”.
According to senior Grace Gertner, she hated losing 62-61 to New Trier on Nov. 28.
“We wanted revenge on [them] because we hated losing to them in [our first conference game of the season],” Gertner said.
The team won 54-45 in its second time facing New Trier in an away game on Jan. 9.
The team did not have the strongest start to the conference season, going into January with a record of 1-3 in conference, head coach Nick Capalbo said.
“Since [beating New Trier], we’ve won every conference game we’ve played so far, kind of like a little revenge tour,” Capalbo said.
According to Gertner, the team began its revenge tour after beating Glenbard West in overtime during the Spartans first game in the Blenner Classic Holiday Tournament at St. Viator on Dec. 26.
“They are a very good basketball team, and we lost to them last year in the same tournament,” said Gertner. “So we wanted to come out ready to go.”
“We were up the whole game but then took a step back in the fourth quarter, and they ended up tying the game on a [buzzer-beater with a] three and sent it to overtime,” said Gertner. “Most teams would hold their heads down after getting [scored on with] a buzzer-beater, but I remember going back to the bench and everyone saying, ‘Chin up, we still have four minutes left to win this game.’ So we came out, heads held high, and we ended up winning that game.”
As of Feb. 20, the team (23-7, 4-6 Central Suburban League South Division) placed first at regionals. This was the first regional championship since 1993. Myers earned all-conferenceand leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game. Senior Cait Ethen leads the team in rebounding, averaging 8.1 rebounds per game. Gertner leads the team in assists with a total of 97 assists this season.
The team’s win against Glenbard West reminded the girls of their strength and ability to beat strong conferenceteams, Myers said.
“It was nice beating [Glenbard West] and then going into our conference playing teams that are smarter without knowing that we’re just as good as them,” Myers said.