They say there’s a first for everything. That first happened for Meredith Boardman and Fenwick Thursday night. Boardman hit a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to propel the Friars into the sectional semifinal, defeating host St. Ignatius 70-69 in a Class 4A regional.

“That was really cool,” said Boardman. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that before and to do it to win a regional only makes it more special. That was awesome, an awesome game.”

After being plagued by fouls for much of the first three quarters, Boardman scored 10 points in the final period, including five in an 8-2 run to end the game. The Friars trailed 67-62 with a minute left and forced three turnovers in the last 30 seconds of the game to escape with the victory.

“I wasn’t hitting my free throws and that kind of bothered me because I pride myself on that,” said Boardman. “I just put it behind me though and couldn’t think about that stuff in the past. We knew we just needed to get the win.”

The game was close throughout, as the biggest lead of the game came midway through the final period when the Wolfpack went up 67-58.

“St. Ignatius played a really good game against us,” said Boardman. “We like to run and they ran with us every step of the way. They always give us a hard game and they did it again today. We were in a real dogfight.”

St. Ignatius (19-11) was able to keep up with the Friars due to some nifty passing. In a stretch midway through the first quarter, five consecutive Wolfpack baskets were run-out layups, caused by crisp outlet passing. St. Ignatius was able to capitalize on this kink in the Fenwick defense throughout the entire game.

Boardman had 17 for Fenwick (22-9), while Jade Owens added 15 and Marek Burchett 14, 11 in the first half. Kelly Nickele led St. Ignatius with 23 points, while Mariah Harris added 20.

The Friars won their 17th consecutive Regional title, something that Boardman said is a great part of the tradition.

“It’s hard to live up to sometimes, but it’s a great feeling knowing that we are a part of that tradition, especially with games like these.’’

BY MICHAEL WOJTYCHIW                                                                 February 16, 2012