Poised Regina downs Willows to keep season alive

Trust and anticipation were key as an experienced Regina Dominican squad stayed composed in a 39-28 IHSA Class 2A regional win over Willows Academy on Tuesday in Wilmette.

The Panthers jammed passing lanes and persistently deflected passes, leading to wild loose-ball scrambles in a hot and rowdy Regina gymnasium.

“We have a special team here that likes to trust each other,” Panthers senior Jillian DeFranza said. “I am confident that all 12 players on the team can take any girls that they want one-on-one at any moment.”

“I trust them with all of the things we ask them to do,” Panthers coach Bob Newton said.

The win sends the Panthers (14-14) to the regional championship against Johnsburg at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at Regina. The Skyhawks, who are 33-0 and the top seed in the sectional, defeated Wheaton Academy 45-22 also on Tuesday.

Regina’s result was a flipped script from a 52-41 loss to Willows on Jan. 13, a contest where the Panthers had DeFranza on a minutes restriction following an early-season injury. 

The Panthers four seniors — DeFranza, Olivia Fraterrigo, Anna O’Connor and Natalia Cerrado — were sophomores during the program’s 2024 state-final-four run.

Willows junior standout Maura Crimmins scored 23 points when the two Independent School League rivals last met. The Panthers limited the versatile lefty to 12 points on Tuesday. 

“Maura is a great player going to her natural side, left,” Newton said. “The first time we played them … every time she dodged to the right, our kids bit on it and she went left. Tonight we sat on her left hip and made her earn it.”

Crimmins pushed the pace, upping her aggressiveness and attacked the hoop in the third quarter.

“She’s a lefty. Had to force her right,”  DeFranza said. “Our coaches love to say complementary defense is the key and I think that was really important for us this game playing as a team. (We) can’t just have one defender on the court controlling the entire game, it has to be all five at the same time.”

The Panthers effectively sealed the deal when DeFranza (9 points) put back a missed shot for a 34-26 advantage, and the Eagles got no closer.

Fraterrigo said offensive rebounding are crucial.

“Missing sucks. … You might have missed but it was (like) a good pass and Jillian got the layup out of it, so (we) just finding the joy in those little things,” Fraterrigo said. 

Junior Bridget Conway grabbed some key rebounds and sank six key free throws when buckets were hard to come by.

“Even when they made the two buckets and they came back to make it a four-point game, it really doesn’t put us in a panic mode,” Newton said.

Early, Regina fell behind 7-2, seemingly with a lid on the basket for the first five-plus minutes of the game, before an 8-0 spurt pushed the Panthers to a 10-7 lead after a quarter.

Extra passes led to several of the Panthers’ first-half, transition buckets, including one in which DeFranza found Fraterrigo streaking down the left wing for a smooth lay-in and Regina’s first lead of the game, 8-7. 

Panthers junior guard Grace Byrne played quality minutes off the bench in the second quarter, participating in a give-and-go sequence with Bridget Conway to give Regina a 17-11 advantage.

The game headed into the half 17-13.

“We kept telling her, there’s going to come a time later where you’ll be comfortable because you’ve had these minutes and it paid off,” Newton said of Byrne. “She went in, she played great defense, got a couple deflections, a couple steals, made a nice bucket.

“She’s comfortable with what we’re doing, and she’s been out there in some (high) pressure situations during the course of the season.”

With emotions running high in a physical and sloppy third quarter, Fraterrigo (12 points) sank a corner three-pointer on a zone-beating set play against the Willows (21-9) matchup zone defense, giving her team a 26-18 lead with 1:25 to go in the third quarter. The conversion was one of only a pair of Panthers’ three-pointers on a night when the bottom of the net was hard to find. 

Fraterrigo’s defensive persistence on a tipped pass led to a final Regina possession in the third, which was capped when Fraterrigo dropped in a floater for a 28-22 advantage after three quarters. 

“Staying calm, these big moments, they fuel us,” Fraterrigo said. “It’s something we’re excited for because all three, four of our years we’ve played high-intensity games. Those are comfortable for us. We love those games.”

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