Trinity tops Fenwick in sectional semifinal

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Fenwick's Meredith Boardman (left) makes a pass around Trinity's Megan Podkowa, during the sectional semifinal at Lyons Township. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 24, 2012 8:57AM

Throughout her record-breaking career, Trinity senior Megan Podkowa had never faced Fenwick.

It’s likely the 6-foot-1 forward will never forget her first time.

Podkowa scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds, Taylor Nazon added 16 points and Alyssa Dengler finished with 13, including a couple of huge first-quarter three-pointers to lead No. 3 Trinity (30-1) to a 64-45 victory over Fenwick in the Class 4A sectional Tuesday at Lyons Township.

An near-capacity crowd helped create an electric environment in the teams’ first meeting in the careers of Trinity’s Podkowa and Fenwick standout Meredith Boardman.

“It’s exciting to play them in our senior year,” said Podkowa, a DePaul recruit. “We were just hoping for the outcome that we had.”

Fenwick took early leads of 9-4 and 12-10, but Trinity closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to grab an 18-12 lead.

“Under pressure when teams have runs on us, we try to keep calm and try to build the lead up and keep on scoring,” Podkowa said.

The Blazers gradually extended to a 47-32 lead late in the third quarter on a driving layup by Nazon, who scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half.

“I was settling for jump shots in the first half,” the junior guard said. “I decided to go back to what I knew best, which is just go at the basket. That’s my strength, and I’m one of the scorers on the team.

“It was a great environment to play in,” Nazon added. “I’m happy we got to capitalize and show our fans how good we are.”

No. 15 Fenwick (22-10) got 15 points and 11 rebounds from Boardman and 14 points from sophomore guard Jade Owen.

“We had a couple of nice runs in the first half,” Fenwick coach Dave Power said. “But in the second half, offensively we couldn’t keep up. We just weren’t knocking down shots, inside shots, outside shots, a couple of unforced turnovers that hurt us.

“They may be one of the best teams I’ve seen in a long time that may not even get downstate, through no fault of their own. The winner of our path should get a trophy and the rest of the teams that get downstate should get ribbons of participation. It’s a joke.”

Trinity will face Whitney Young (30-0), a 69-34 winner over Proviso East in the other semifinal, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the sectional final.