Feldman's basket with :02 left lifts Highland Park to win

Giants improve to 17-5 with second dramatic win in 10 days

One more Giant(s) victory.
 
Emily Feldman made the game-winning basket with two seconds left as the Highland Park girls basketball team pulled out a 56-55 win over visiting Lake Forest in a non-conference game in Highland Park. 
 
The Giants had three shot attempts off the mark before Feldman finally sealed it in the final seconds.
 
"Everyone was shooting and shooting,"  said Feldman, who scored four of the last six points of her 10 and rallied the Giants from a  four-point deficit in the final two minutes. "We stayed with it and I got lucky with an easy layup.  I just tried to be confident because we all thought we could win that game. It showed a lot of hard work. We just kept going all the way to the end."
 
Highland Park (17-5) pulled another game out after beating Niles North 69-66 in overtime Jan. 15. The Giants are learning in a hurry by winning recent close games.
 
"We play hard, and the last play was a great example," Highland Park coach Julie Bechtel said. "We dug it out, and I think it was toughness. We just don't give up. This team is very good, and it's a good reason why we have won 17 games."
 
The victory puts the Giants into a good position between the No. 5-8 seeds going into the Class 4A Libertyville Sectional seeding meeting Wednesday. However, there are a number of powerful teams in the sectional from Cook and Lake County.
 
"We could be down as far as No. 10." said Bechtel, whose team went (4-1) against sectional opponents. "To have 17 wins and be an eight seed would be tough."

On Tuesday, Lake Forest (13-10) jumped out to a 17-7 lead on a Maddy Striedl (19 points) short jumper with 58 seconds left in the first quarter.
 
The Giants recovered and trailed 17-12 starting the second quarter. Highland Park outscored Lake Forest 19-10 and led 31-27 on Lauren Evans’ (10 points) three-pointer with 1:35 left. The Giants held a 31-29 advantage at the break.
 
"We do have a lot of weapons," Bechtel said. "But we're at our best when we work together. There's not one person that's a star. We do pretty well defensively."
 
In the second half, Highland Park's Lena Munzer (team-high 15 points) hit one of her four three-pointers, capping off a 5-0 run and extending the lead to 36-29 with 7:05 remaining in the third quarter.
 
But the Scouts rallied back because the Giants got into foul trouble. Lake Forest went on an 11-4 run and led 42-40 at the end of the third quarter.
 
Highland Park lost two starters by early in the fourth quarter, as both Nicole Monhait (13 points) and Briana Collier (7 points) fouled out.
 
Still, the Giants hung in with the Scouts, and the game was tied at 50-50 with three minutes left. Megan Moore made four consecutive free throws of her 10 points to put the Scouts ahead with two minutes left before the Giant finish.
 
"A lot of us picked up our game seeing two of our starters out," Munzer said. "I knew everything I could do out there knocking shots would be a big thing helping things out."

Photo:

Highland Park's Emily Feldman, shown being guarded in a game last month, hit the game-winning basket in the Giants' 56-55 win over Lake Forest Tuesday. (Photo by Mark Shurson/www.markshursonphotography.com)