ELGIN — The Elgin Wolfpack girls basketball team made it two-in-a-row Friday night with a 39 to 35 victory over St. Mary’s.
The victory boosted EPPJ’s record to 5-5.
In the first quarter, the Wolfpack trailed most of the way but pulled to within one when Jessica Heithoff hit a trey at the buzzer to cut St. Mary’s lead to 11 to 10.
Then, in the second quarter, EPPJ took control of the game. After free throws by Brooke Bauer and Jessi Simons gave the Cards a 13 to 10 lead, the Wolfpack tied the score on another trey by Heithoff at the 4:16 mark. From there the Wolfpack went on a nine-to-two run to close out the first half. Stephanie Bode had three points, Heithoff had a deuce and Carey Eischeid nailed two free throws to give the Wolfpack a 22 to 15 lead at intermission.
The lead grew to seven points, 24 to 17, early in the third quarter on two more free throws by Eischeid. St. Mary’s then scored the next six points to cut the score to 24 to 23. Lauren Selting then hit a basket and Eischeid closed out the third quarter with three more points to bump the lead up to 29 to 23.
In the fourth quarter the lead grew to 12 points, 35 to 23, on a basket by Selting. The teams traded baskets before St. Mary’s put together a five-to-zero run to cut the lead to 38 to 33 with 1:25 remaining.
Down the stretch the Wolfpack had opportunities to put the game away at the free throw line. However, in the final 90 seconds of the game, they connected on just one of eight free throws.
A late basket by Cardinal Jessi Pongratz cut the lead to four points with 10 seconds left but that was as close as St. Mary’s would get on this night.
Heithoff led the Wolfpack with 13 points, Selting added 12.
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