Nazareth’s Stella Sakalas (32) shares a high-five with Olivia Austin (21) after defeating Lyons, February 20, 2024, Chicago, Illinois | Allen Cunningham / For the Sun-Times
Allen Cunningham, Chicago Sun Times
The Roadrunners had fought back. With the score tied at the start of the fourth quarter, Nazareth needed to make a run, and senior forward Olivia Austin served as the catalyst.
Austin faced up and drove towards the left side of the basket before veering back right and uncorking a high-arching floater off the glass with the foul. Her basket gave the Roadrunners the lead, and they never looked back in their 44-40 sectional semifinal win over Lyons (20-11).
Austin’s bucket kickstarted a 9-0 run for the Roadrunners (28-3), allowing them to grab a stranglehold of the game.
Despite trailing for much of the game, the Roadrunners’ trip to Florida for the Tampa Bay Christmas Invite prepared them for these close games.
The Roadrunners challenged themselves by playing two top-10, nationally-ranked teams and Bolingbrook — one of the premier teams in the state — and are on an 18-game winning streak since a Dec. 29 loss against IMG.
“We put ourselves in tough situations early on to prepare ourselves for the playoffs,” said sophomore forward Stella Sakalas, who finished with 16 points, three rebounds and two blocks.
This game wasn’t a high-paced, three-point shooting affair, but the Roadrunners stayed composed and executed. Though shots weren’t falling, they defended well enough to give themselves a shot to steal the game.
“Everyone was just focusing on staying calm,” said Austin, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. “We knew Lyons was a very talented team with a lot of great players who can execute. We knew we had to focus on defense and really try to take care of the ball as much as we could.”
Sakalas’ three-pointer before the third quarter was the impetus in Nazareth wrangling away control of the game.
“Everyone was going through the motions,” Sakalas said. “Once we started to make shots and get back to what we were good at, that's when everyone started to pick up the intensity and start to get it going.”
After winning the 2023 Class 3A state championship, Nazareth moved up to Class 4A due to the IHSA’s success factor. The senior group is well-versed in playoff basketball.
“I thought the momentum changed in the third quarter,” Roadrunners coach Edward Stritzel said. “Our strength of schedule — two years going down state before this — whether right or wrong, we thought we had to prepare him with the toughest schedule in Illinois.”
Stritzel said that experience was pivotal down the stretch, allowing his team to make the requisite plays to close the game, but the Roadrunners were fortunate to be in this game.
But in playoff basketball, seniors have to lead the way. They have to lead the team through the rocky moments, and Austin's stellar play allowed her team to advance.
“Without Olivia, we would have lost, and that's the honest truth,” Sakalas said.
Lyons could never pull away, keeping the window ever so open for Nazareth. The Roadrunners' resolve goes back to the Christmas tournament that validated how good they could be.
“They’re flat-out winners,” Stritzel said of his team. The senior’s record in three years is 90-something and seven [96-7] against the schedule we play. The more you give them, the more they want.”
