Ms. Big Shot: Cesarek’s 3 sends Comets past Dixon in opener

STERLING – Sarah Cesarek didn’t think the biggest shot of the night had enough on it.

Luckily for the Newman junior guard, she was wrong.

Cesarek’s 3-point basket with 19 seconds remaining lifted the Comets to a 54-52 victory over Dixon in a Sauk Valley Shootout contest Monday night in the Newman gym. It was the season opener for both teams.

Newman, down by as many 12 points (40-28) with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, waged a furious fourth-quarter comeback that was capped by Cesarek’s 3-pointer. With 28.4 seconds remaining, the Comets had the ball and called a timeout.

Assistant coach Jay Howell drew up a play that had Kayla Moore drive the lane and shoot a layup if it was there. If not, Moore was to kick it out to Cesarek. Moore chose option No. 2, and Cesarek converted Newman’s only 3-pointer of the night.

“I was pretty confident,” Cesarek said, “but when I let it go I thought it was going to be short. But it went in.”

“The play actually worked just like we drew it up,” Newman coach Ryan Oetting said, before quickly giving credit to Howell.

A last-second 3-point attempt by Dixon’s Holly Nicklaus was short, securing the win for the Comets.

Newman controlled the early portion of the game, and was up 23-17 two minutes before halftime before Dixon went on a 6-0 run to knot the score at 23-23.

The Duchesses continued their surge in the third quarter, and a pair of 5-0 scoring runs by Susie Hicks and Elizabeth Greenwalt put them up 40-28 before the Comets started fighting back.

Dixon was still ahead 52-47 on a basket by Hicks with 2:55 remaining, but didn’t score the rest of the way.

“Newman did a great job coming back,” Dixon coach Jamie Brigl said, “but we’ve got to learn how to buckle down and finish off the game.”

Fatigue was a factor for Dixon, which used just six players. Reserves Lauren Smith and Brooke Payne are injured and not due back for a week or two, and two sophomores, Allison DeArvil and Breanna Tourtillot, played in the preliminary game and were to be used in an emergency only.