The Fenwick boys basketball team snapped a three-game losing skid on Friday night by downing St. Joseph 59-47. The Friars followed up the victory with a 48-44 overtime win against St. Laurence on Sunday in the Conference Challenge Classic at Loyola University.
Down 13-4 in the first quarter against St. Joseph, Fenwick charged back behind the play of sophomore guard Pat Hart, who finished with a game-high 17 points.
The Chargers (5-12, 2-5) briefly got to within four in the final period, but Fenwick (9-8, 4-3) went on a 9-2 run to clinch the Chicago Catholic League victory.
Six-foot-6 center John Malone had one By BRAD SPENCER
Sports Editor
Okay, so they didn’t hold off Abby Kirchoff, who scored 35 points for Barrington in Saturday morning’s game at Lake Zurich in the Sweet 16 Tournament, but the Fenwick girls basketball team did something better: The Friars came away with a 64-56 victory.
Kirchoff scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, but that was when most of Fenwick’s starters were already pulled. The Fillies (17-8) never gained any significant momentum in the second half against Fenwick.
The real story was Meredith Boardman, who came off the bench to score six of her 12 points in the third quarter to help the Friars outscore Barrington 22-11. Fenwick (23-2) held a 19-point lead in the final quarter. Boardman, who has played sparingly the last month since coming back from major knee surgery, also finished with eight rebounds.
Kyra Navarrete, who hit the 1,000-point mark in her career in Fenwick’s 61-44 victory over Geneva on Jan. 25, led the Friars with 15 points. Freshman Jade Owens added 11, while Sarah Williams finished with 10 and Hannah Ballard eight.
Boardman scored 13 points against Geneva, who as of last week was ranked 13th. She scored the Friars’ first nine points of the fourth quarter in that blowout.
“Meredith is back to playing how she was playing in the summer, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, and shooting great,” said Fenwick head coach Dave Power. “Playing her and Ballard together lately has been more effective for us. We were relying on the perimeter shooting before but now Meredith’s presence adds that inside and outside game, which is always tough for opponents to defend.”
The Friars pummeled Fremd 60-37 in the second game of the tournament on Saturday. Williams led in that onslaught with 16 points, while Navarrete had 14. Boardman finished with eight points and three blocks.
Fenwick was scheduled to take on Marian Catholic (21-4) last night (Feb. 1, after deadline). A victory would give the Friars their 17th-straight East Suburban Catholic Conference title. The team wraps up the Sweet 16 Tournament against St. Charles North on Thursday. A win would give the Friars a share of the tournament title with Naperville Central.
Fenwick hosts Providence for Senior Day on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
“I like where we are at right now,” added Power. “We have two or three tough games coming up that will be real big tests. Hopefully, we’ll still be doing what we’ve been doing for the final stretch of the regular season.”
of his best games of the season, scoring nine points. Senior forward Tim Gancer, senior guard Dylan Barnett and junior forward Sam Ainsworth all scored eight points each for the Friars.
In the victory over St. Laurence (4-13), Barnett led Fenwick with 18 points.
Fenwick will recognize the school’s state champions before Friday night’s home game against St. Ignatius (12-7). The tip-off is 7:30 p.m. The pre-game ceremony will honor the hockey, boys swimming and boys water polo teams. There will also be a half-time ceremony unveiling the retired jersey numbers of Fenwick alums Corey Maggette and John Lattner.
The Friars travel to Holy Trinity on Saturday.
-Brad Spencer
