The Lincoln-Way East girls basketball team was not about to let another marquee win slip away Monday at Fenwick.
The No. 14 Griffins, who let double-digit leads disappear in their only losses to No. 8 Marian Catholic and No. 11 T.F. North, held off a late Fenwick rally to hold on to a 61-47 upset win. It was No. 5 Fenwick's first loss on its home floor in five years.
"The intensity was really high," said Lincoln-Way East forward Kersten Magrum. "We had a lead versus Marian, and we blew it. We had a lead against T.F. North and we blew it, so we were pretty determined not to blow this one.
"We always had these games to prove ourselves, and we were never able to. I think this proves that we're here to play and that we're a very good team. We're going to be tough to beat."
Magrum scored a team-high 22 points--bringing her career total to 1,506 points--in front of her future coach at Illinois, Jolette Law. Junior Theresa Tynski added 16 points and sophomore Kelly McGovern added nine points for the Griffins (12-2), who were playing without starting point guard Autum Korosic, who was out with the flu.
Lincoln-Way East led by as many as 18 points with 4:26 to play in the fourth quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by Fenwick's Tricia Liston and Katlyn Payne and the Friars' full-court press helped cut the lead to 52-44 with 2:01 to play, but the Griffins made 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:45 to hold on to the win.
Fenwick's shots would not fall against Lincoln-Way East's man-to-man defense. The Friars shot just 4-for-31 from three-point range in the game. They scored just four second-quarter points to give the Griffins a 23-19 halftime edge.
"You could tell they were frustrated because they weren't hitting their shots," Magrum said. "It was a negative for them, but a positive for us. It was a rough game for both teams, and we were able to take advantage of it."
Lincoln-Way East coach Jim Martin said it was a big win for the program, even if it may have come against a Fenwick team that wasn't as fresh as usual. The Friars took on a tough field to win the Dundee-Crown tournament championship last Tuesday and then traveled to Warminster, Pa., where they beat Archbishop Wood on Saturday.
Liston scored 24 points and Payne added 14 points for the Friars (13-3) on Monday.
ckane@tribune.com