Sports
Morrissey and Patriots Pummel Mundelein
First round of regional play goes Stevenson's way on Wednesday night.
Officially at halftime, it was Mundelein 19 and Anna Morrissey 19.
To be fair, Mundelein outscored senior Morrissey, but by that time, the Stevenson Patriots opened post-season play in style by beating Mundelein for the third straight time. The Pats (21-8) took a 20-point lead to halftime at Grant High School and finished with that same advantage in the 63-43 romp.
Coach Tom Dineen's club heads for Friday night's regional title game in Fox Lake against Barrington (7:30 p.m.).
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"This was the third time we've played them,'' Dineen said. "And we didn't want to take any chances. We needed to get off to a good start."
That good start included 19 points in the first quarter. A full dozen of those came from the senior Morrissey (22 points). She nailed a pair of three-pointers as the Pats broke a 5-5 tie by scoring the next 25 points in a row.
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"We passed around to the open shooters,'' Morrissey said. "And we were lock down on defense."
Seemingly on her way to a career-high in points, Morrissey suffered a cut finger that didn't want to stop bleeding. She hit another three-pointer in the third quarter and then took a seat for the rest of the contest.
Of Stevenson's first 28 points, only two (Ashley Niedermayer) came from anyone but Morrissey or Michelle O'Brien (13 points).
"We just had a great start,'' Dineen said. "We had a lot of execution and a lot of emotion. We were playing to win. Anna just had the hot hand tonight."
By halftime the tandem of Morrissey and O'Brien had 30 of Stevenson's 39 points. With Morrissey sidelined and O'Brien in foul trouble, other Patriots stepped up. Niedermayer had eight of her 10 points in the second half.
In addition to her strong defense on Mundelein's talented Olivia Dunigan, McKinley Imus chipped in six points. Alex Elzinga came off the bench to supply five points. Katie Batman closed out the scoring in the third quarter with a three-pointer.
In game two of the evening, Barrington raced to an 19-1 lead over Highland Park and ended the Giants' season 54-38.
"Barrington is a good team,'' Morrissey said.
Dineen is just hoping for a repeat performance from his club come Friday night.
"We need that same effort and emotion on Friday,'' he said.
