Sandburg relies on O’Connor
A leader’s gotta lead. Crunchtime seems to bring out the best of that in Sandburg senior Erin O’Connor.
She feels the vibe.
“I do,” O’Connor said. “It’s the excitement. I hear all the parents saying, ‘Good job, good job.’ All my teammates come over and hype me up.
“That kind of gets me to play even better.”
When it mattered most, O’Connor was the best player on the floor Wednesday for the Eagles in a 43-39 victory over Wheaton St. Francis in the Hinsdale Central/South Brenda Whitesell Invitational.
Josie Canellis and Charlotte Trunk each scored 12 points for Sandburg (3-0). O’Connor added six points and nine rebounds.
Natalie Doyle, Lauren Bruce and Tristan Grosam had nine points apiece for St. Francis (2-1).
Sandburg will play Nazareth at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Hinsdale South for the tournament title.
In one sense, O’Connor went from zero to hero in the win over St. Francis.
Through three quarters, the a 5-foot-8 guard had no points. But she was far from dogging it, pulling down eight rebounds.
“During halftime, I was thinking about what I could do to make my team have open shots,” O’Connor said. “I wanted to do whatever I could on defense to create turnovers. And of course, rebounding the ball as well as I could and get the ball to open players.”
O’Connor left her imprint all over the fourth quarter.
Sandburg, which was down nine at halftime, trailed 34-31 when O’Connor started things off with a driving layup. It was a 36-35 deficit when she took a pass from Lauren Coghlan and drove again to put the Eagles on top.
O’Connor scored yet another basket to put Sandburg up by three before making a steal and feeding Trunk for a 3-point play.
Throw in a couple of saves on balls going out of bounds and another rebound?
It was most definitely a leader doing the leading.
“Going into the fourth quar
ter, I was just looking at the score and looking how the game went back and forth,” O’Connor said. “I thought in my mind, ‘Wow, we really need to pick up the tempo.’ I just did whatever I could to get my team ahead.”
It was no surprise to Sandburg coach Nick Fotopoulos.
“Erin does everything for us,” Fotopoulos said. “Even when she struggles, she sticks with it. She understands the game. She understands how to compete.
“At the end there, steals, rebounds, pushing the pace for us, finding girls open. I can’t give enough praise to Erin O’Connor for the way she has played.”
O’Connor is in her fourth varsity season. In the shortened spring season, she averaged 7.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals. She’s ready for the grand finale.
“You know, I kind of just want to leave it all out on the court my senior season,” O’Connor said. “I want to help us win as many games as possible and leave a mark on Sandburg.”
Every day, she leaves a mark on her teammates.
“Erin’s an awesome leader,” Canellis said. “The energy she brings, she can get anybody going. We were hanging in there and never got down by that much, but she made a huge difference with the energy, the steals and the layups.
“When she got going, it inspired everybody to get going. That’s how the game turned around.”
Canellis played a key role in Sandburg hanging close. The junior guard hit four 3-pointers. The last came midway during the third quarter, drawing the Eagles within a point.
“It definitely feels great when I’m able to hit them,” Canellis said. “Like Erin says, one of her big roles is to play defense. My role has to be shooting, and that’s what I try to do as much as I can.
“The energy that everybody on the team had was just awesome. When you hit a big shot, their energy makes it feel 10 times better.”