Currie Raises Romeoville Over Oak Lawn in OT

It was a battle of the Spartans on Tuesday night as Romeoville and Oak Lawn squared off in girls basketball for the right to advance to the championship game of the Oak Lawn Holiday Tournament.

Kiera Currie, a sophomore center/forward, put up the three points in overtime that Romeoville needed to beat Oak Lawn 53-51.

"I'm just happy to leave here with a win," Romeoville coach Julio Carrasco said. "It was a bad game all around. We made some adjustments early, but they came back and countered our adjustments. We couldn't get into the flow of the offense."

Romeoville (6-5) advances to the tournament championship game against Lincoln-Way North at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

"Lincoln-Way North is a big team," Carrasco said. "We've got to get more about discipline--that's the big thing here. We got a little flustered ourselves and started turning the ball over."

Currie put up a double-double on the night with 21 points and 10 rebounds. She hit a shot that put Romeoville ahead 49-48 with just over 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  But freshman guard Brooke Annerino nailed a free throw shot for Oak Lawn that forced overtime.

Oak Lawn seemed to have the game under control early, leading 13-3 after the first quarter. Romeoville put up six points in the second quarter before Oak Lawn senior guard Kelly Foley was able to get a shot in, making the score 15-9 with under three minutes to play in the half.

Foley scored 13 points for Oak Lawn.

Three more points from Currie tied the game up for Romeoville at 17-17 at the half. Sophomore point guard Abby Smith added 12 points for Romeoville and had four assists. Sophomore forward Brianna Harris had five points and 10 rebounds.

"It was intense," Oak Lawn coach Janet Haubenreiser said. "We jumped out to that lead 13-3 at the end of the first quarter and then we got a little lax. We kind of let them take control of the game and got flustered by their pressure."

Senior forward/center Bridget Niemiec broke the tie in the third quarter, scoring five points for Oak Lawn and giving her team a 24-19 lead. Niemiec had her second 20-point game in a row. She also came up with 11 rebounds.

Oak Lawn will play DeLaSalle or Rich East for third place at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Haubenreiser said Oak Lawn will take a simple plan into the fray.

"(Adjustments) are one of the things we still struggle with," she said. "Sometimes we can make adjustments on the fly and other times we can't. The things that we prepare for the girls do real well.

"But, then, when we have to make adjustments from call-outs on the court or from a timeout, sometimes they struggle with that. So, that's our goal, to be able to make those adjustments and cut down on turning the ball over."