Wheeling's two-minute offense stuns Hersey
By Drake Skleba
With National Football League conference championship games on tap this weekend, thoughts of the two-minute offense run to perfection and resulting in game-winning touchdowns are on the minds of football fans across the nation. Wheeling (20-3, 4-2) showed its version of the two-minute drill to a large crowd at Hersey Friday.
Trailing the host Huskies 48-39 with 2:02 left in a Mid-Suburban League eastern division showdown, Wheeling rallied to stun their hosts 51-48. With the win Wheeling moved into a first-place tie for the top spot in the MSL East with the Huskies (14-6, 4-2). The Wildcats are joined by No. 14 Elk Grove (18-3, 4-2) which won 44-37 at Prospect (14-7,3-3) Friday.
Hersey 6-foot-1 post Maddie Swan (10 points, 10 rebounds, six blocked shots) made two free throws to give Hersey a 48-39 lead with 2:02 left in the game. Wheeling didn't give up; it dug in.
Senior guard Janelle Cannon (19 points, three steals) scored with 1:50 left to bring the Wildcats within seven at 48-41.
Wheeling's 5-foot-11 F Bianca Szafarowicz picked up the first of her three steals in the game-winning run and fed senior Stephanie Kuzmanic whose layup brought the Wildcats within five at 48-43 with 1:40 remaining.
Hersey called timeout.
The Huskies turned over the ball at the 1:34 mark and Cannon scored again to make the score 48-45. Hersey missed the front end of a one-and-one and Stephanie Kuzmanics' put back basket brought Wheeling within one at 48-47 with 51 seconds remaining. Kuzmanic scored 13 points for the victorious Wildcats.
With 45 seconds remaining, Hersey missed two more free throws, and Cannon's floater down the baseline gave the Wildcats a 49-48 lead with 27.6 seconds left.
"When I let it go I was praying that it would go in," said Cannon of what turned out to be the game winner. "I'm a senior on this team and it's my job to take the big shots. I played well in the second half and I'm very happy with my performance tonight."
The lightning-quick hands of Szafarowicz resulted in a pair of steals to close out the win. The senior pickpocket nailed a pair of free throws to make the final score Wheeling 51, Hersey 48; simply unbelievable!
"We knew we had to pick up on defense and force turnovers to get back in the game when we were down nine," Szafarowicz said. "We caused a lot of turnovers in the last two minutes. I missed a lot of layups in the first half, but I really played well down the stretch tonight."
Hersey, which seemed to be in complete control of this game, dominated on the boards and played a great game for 30 minutes. Unfortunately for the Huskies, high school games last 32 minutes.
Hersey was led by its sensational junior guard Megan Rogowski, who scored 21 points. Six-foot senior forward Kathryn Korff had a fine game with eight points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Wheeling head coach Shelly Wiegle was proud of her team's late effort.
"We really stepped it up in the fourth quarter. Our defense created a number of turnovers, which really helped us get this victory," she said. "Our big-three really stepped up in the final minutes of the game. Hersey played so well, it's a credit that we were able to come back and win this great game."
