Senior guard Teagan Krzystof didn’t have a good first half Saturday afternoon for Oak Lawn, but teammate Annie McGrath still tried to make her smile at halftime.
And McGrath, who didn’t resort to telling jokes or making funny faces to force a smile out of Krzystof, literally took matters into her own hands.
“I wasn’t smiling and my teammates hyped me up and told me I needed to smile,” Krzystof said, recalling the key moment. “Annie took hold of my cheeks and made me smile.”
Krzystof gave the host Spartans something to smile about in the second half, scoring nine points to help lead the way in a 44-39 nonconference victory over Stagg.
Danielle Dempsey paced Oak Lawn (11-6) with 13 points, 12 rebounds and six steals. Krzystof picked up 12 points. Dempsey was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line, hitting six in the first quarter.
Lamia Quinones added 10 points, all in the second quarter, and three assists as the Spartans took a 25-22 halftime lead.
Abbey Hobart led Stagg (12-5) with 21 points and four steals, while Shannon Earley had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Victoria Bedziechowski contributed seven rebounds.
McGrath’s cheek pull, however, didn’t result in immediate scoring. Both teams’ defenses went into overdrive in the third quarter, and the Spartan’s didn’t come through until Krzystof hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to force a 28-28 tie.
“That third quarter was a bloodbath, and her knocking down that three let us take a deep breath and settle ourselves down,” Oak Lawn coach Mark Sevedge said of Krzystof. “There was a lid on the rim, and she took it off for us.”
Then in the fourth quarter, Krzystof took off with a 3-pointer that put the Spartans ahead 33-29. She was fouled on another 3-point attempt and put in the free throws for a 37-31 advantage.
Krzystof, who also plays golf and softball, is getting interest from colleges in softball. She’s scheduled to visit Aurora University on Friday and also is looking at Wisconsin-Parkside and North Central College.
A four-year varsity basketball player, Krzystof said she was cut from the team in sixth grade, played in seventh grade and had her season in eighth grade wiped out during the pandemic.
Although she didn’t have a ton of game experience, Sevedge liked what he saw when Krzystof was a freshman.
“She’s a heck of an athlete,” Sevedge said. “Right from the get-go, we thought she could handle it physically. We knew there would be growing pains, but she practiced in the offseason on her shot and has gotten so consistent.
“Even as a freshman, we thought she was going to help space the floor, and we had players like Mia Kennelly. We knew it would take some time for her to develop, but we felt we had to do it.”
Dempsey, a longtime teammate in all three sports with Krzystof, said Krzystof being cut from the basketball team in sixth grade may have fueled her.
“No matter what it is — even in gym class — she will just pick up something so easily,” Dempsey said of Krzystof. “Getting cut in sixth grade helped her to want to prove that she is good.”
Oak Lawn returned from a holiday trip to the Tampa area, where it went 2-1 playing in Florida. It seemed to help a team that was rocked earlier in December by a wrist injury to Jacky Canalas.
The Spartans, who also lost Bianca Fleitas during the first game, has been mixing and matching lineups throughout the season.
“We all knew we needed to step up,” Krzystof said. “Since we are a senior-heavy team, we have to get everyone on the same page and we have to get everyone up.
“We knew that we all had to take it up a notch.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
