By Randy Whalen
Correspondent
On Senior Night at Sandburg, it was a freshman who saved the Eagles.
Zoe Trunk stole the ball and hit a layup with 10 seconds to play, completing Sandburg’s rally from a 12-point third-quarter deficit in a 37-34 victory over Lockport on Jan. 26 in Orland Park.
The Eagles (15-12, 3-3) had dropped five of six games coming in.
“I felt like we all came together as a team,” Trunk said. “We talked in a team meeting about the goals for the rest of the year and how we all wanted to win for the seniors.”
One of those seniors, Claire Callaghan, contributed four points and eight rebounds to the winning effort.
With the Porters leading 34-31, Callaghan hit two free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 17.2 seconds left in the game. Sandburg went to a full-court press on Lockport’s ensuing possession, and Trunk intercepted a pass under her own basket and hit the go-ahead layup.
The turnover was the Porters’ 26th of the game.
“We had a good trap and I saw her eyes,” Trunk said of her steal. “I knew where she was going with the ball and I wanted to get points for the team.”
Eagles junior guard Noor Ali made a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds left and Lockport failed to get a final shot off.
Sandburg had struggled from the charity stripe throughout the game, making only 11-of-22 freebies, before converting four of the final five attempts.
“I just knew how important it was,” Callaghan of her free throws. “I wanted to make all three but got two. We knew we just had to get focused.
“I couldn’t have imagined a better outcome on Senior Night.”
The Eagles were 3-of-27 from the field in the first half and trailed 18-9 at the break.
“We were pretty fired up at halftime,” Sandburg coach Nick Fotopoulos said. “We said that we had to come out, run our offense and get good looks.
The Eagles play four freshmen who have been key contributors this season. One of those is Ana Cisek, who scored eight points.
With Lockport leading 22-10 midway through the third quarter, junior Anna Driscoll hit a 3-pointer to spark a 13-3 run that drew Sandburg to within two points by the start of the fourth quarter.
Senior Josie Canellis capped an 8-2 burst at the start of the fourth quarter with five straight points, the last of which came on a layup with 5:14 to play. Cannellis scored a team-high 10 points.
Cannellis entered this week as the third-highest scorer in Eagles’ history with 1,224 points. She could pass Sarah Kustok (1,242) for second place this week. Erica Nelson (1,395) is the program’s all-time points leader.
Earlier in the week, Sandburg fell to Lincoln-Way East, 55-47, in Frankfort. Canellis led the way with 15 points and Olivia Trunk added nine.
Sandburg, which has had four straight winning seasons, has four games left in the regular season — all against teams with winning records. The Eagles are in the Romeoville Sectional, with postseason games starting Saturday, Feb. 11.
They will be without junior forward Juliana Paddock, who sustained a season-ending ACL injury in a 51-48 loss to Homewood-Flossmoor on Jan. 12. It is the second ACL injury for Paddock.