Joliet West rallies late to win season-opening thriller at Joliet Catholic in WJOL Tournament

JOLIET – Joliet West and Joliet Catholic tipped of the girls basketball season Monday night with the opening round of the WJOL Tournament. Fans can only hope every game this season is half as exciting as the one that started the year.

Gabriella Gavin scored 20 points, 17 of them in the first half, leading Joliet West to a solid lead midway through three quarters. The Angels rallied to take the lead late in the third, the two teams fought back and forth in the final quarter before the Tigers finally reclaimed the edge late to win the thriller 54-49.

Joliet West (1-0) was hot in the second quarter and started strong in the third, taking a nine-point advantage midway through the third period. The JCA defense came alive from there, however, holding the Tigers scoreless for 7:17 as JCA took a 41-37 edge. Joliet West rediscovered their offense the rest of the game and grinded out the win.

“I want to give honor to Joliet Catholic for hosting us in our opening game,” coach Breanna Blackmon said. “I think fouls cost us early on, but once we settled down out of the first game nervousness we closed the gap a little bit, got back in there and finished.”

The game never lacked excitement. JCA took an 6-3 lead before an 11-2 run by the Tigers put them in front 14-8. A 3-pointer by Allison Lesters and a steal and score by Abigail Dulinsky in the final minute cut the deficit to 14-13 entering the second quarter.

Joliet West maintained a one possession lead until Gavin hit a pair of 3s to extend the lead to 22-15 with 2:39 remaining in the opening half. Joliet Catholic later trimmed the deficit to one on a driving layup by Dulinsky, but back-to-back baskets by Samantha Cassanova extended the lead to 28-22 with just over a minute to go.

Another driving layup by Dulinsky, along with a made free throw made it 28-25 in favor of Joliet West at the midway point. Dulinsky was sensational in the opener as the sophomore led all scorers with 29 points.

Neither team scored in the second half until 5:58 remained in the the third quarter when Gavin sunk a 3. Makayla Chism made her first basket of the evening with 4:09 left in the period on a 3 to make the lead 37-28 Tigers. However, West didn’t score again until 4:58 remained in the fourth as the Angels began to rally.

A string of six made free throws by Dulinsky late in the quarter put JCA back in front 38-37 for the first time since the late first.

The Angel lead grew to 41-37 before Chism’s layup finally ended the Tiger drought. With 3:15 remaining and the Tigers trailing 42-40, Chism went into beast mode, tying it on a layup. 17 seconds later, Emma Birsa put JCA back in front on a layup of her own, but a 3 by Maya Zanzola put West back in front 45-44 for the first time since the third.

Another Birsa layup with two minutes left briefly put the Angels ahead before a free throw by Chism tied it with 1:45 left. A jumper by Tamia Saunders with 1:26 left on the clock moved the Tigers in front for good, as West made their free throws down the stretch to get the win.

Chism nearly had a triple-double, but settled for the double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks. Khiana Tyler contributed nine points for West. JCA saw Birsa and Lindsey Blabas score seven each, while Lesters chipped in six.

“I’m really proud of our kids,” JCA coach Jim O’Brien said. “We started four sophomores and a junior. ... I’m proud of our effort from the get go. We did a good job on the glass and matched their aggressiveness from start to finish. Hats off to [Joliet West], they did a great job and [Blackmon] does a good job over there.”

Joliet West will play Minooka at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Joliet Junior College as part of the WJOL Tournament. JCA will play Lincoln-Way West at 4:30 p.m. at the same location. Chism kept it simple when asked what it would take to win the tournament.

“It’s just going to take energy,” she said. “It’s going to take us being a team and getting through adversity every game.”