Lutheran South Loses Thriller in Wickenheiser Cup Championship

All-conference basketball teams were named for the boys in the Suburban South Conference and the girls in the Suburban West Conference.

Rockwood Summit's Jory Woodson was named to the five-player first team in the Suburban South Conference. The 6-foot junior averaged 16.2 points per game for the Falcons. Webster Groves had the player of the year (Rayshawn Simmons) and the coach of the year (Jay Blossom) in the conference.

No area girls player was named to the first team in the Suburban West Conference. But Mehlville's Sierra Gray, Fox's Erin Birschbach, Northwest's Brittany Fortner and Lindbergh's Lindsey Bozbeck each were named to the second team.

Gray, a 5-foot-6 junior, averaged 12 points a game to lead the Panthers. Birschbach, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, also scored in double figures, averaging 12.4 points a game for the Warriors. Fortner, a 5-foot-7 senior, averaged 8.9 points a game for the Lions while Bozbeck, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, scored at a 7.2 point per game clip for the Flyers.

Mehlville's Mandy Fox and Emily Fox were named to the honorable mention team along with Oakville's Lauren Fussell and Alyssa Norberg. 

Other area players who were selected to the honorable mention team included: Fox sophomore Selma Fific, Lindbergh junior Angela Black and Lindbergh senior Sarah Johnson.

Hockey

The Lutheran South and Whitfield hockey teams put on a game for the ages in the Wickenheiser Cup championship contest Wednesday night at the Scottrade Center.

The teams battled through a 5-5 tie in the 45 minutes of regulation and then through another 10 minutes of sudden death overtime.

The championship would eventually be determined by a three-man shootout. Whitfield's Hunt Lucas was the only player on either side to score in the shootout and the Warriors had a 6-5 victory.

"It was a heart-breaker," Lutheran South coach Dan Bertarelli said. "But somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. It was a great game. We fought back a couple of times but came up just short. Sometimes in life you work hard and it just doesn't happen. I told the guys to hold their heads high. I was very proud of them."

The Lancers fell behind 4-2 after two periods but tied the game on a power play goal by Cameron Durham just 20 seconds into the third period and the third goal of the game by Christopher Hill, the Patch Athlete of the Week, at 4:06.

Whitfield took a 5-4 lead on a goal by Marty Rubin with just 2:20 to play but Lutheran South's Zackery Beining tied it just 21 seconds later.

CBC won its eighth championship in the last 12 years with a 3-1 win over SLUH in the Challenge Cup Division. The game was tied 1-1 until Matt Sieckhaus scored for the Cadets with 5:03 to play. CBC added an empty net goal with three seconds remaining.