Vanessa Gavin Feels the Burn for McAuley Victory

Mother McAuley’s Vanessa Gavin was named all-tournament at the Buffalo Grove Bison Classic -Image courtesy of the Chicago Tribune

Senior guard and forward Vanessa Gavin was named all-tournament after Mother McAuley won the buffalo Grove Bison Classic.

The 5-foot-10 Gavin averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds as McAuley dominated the field, defeating Maine South with a comfortable final score of 55-27 in Saturday’s championship game.

What was even more unique and surprising was that Gavin only played in four out of the five games for the Mighty Macs due to back pain issues.

“I was very happy getting that,” Gavin said. “Just to know that through the pain that I still played well enough to get that appreciation was nice.”

Gavin also played well in the Mighty Macs’ first two victories over Barrington and Grayslake Central. But she had to sit out during the third-round game against Hersey.

“It was pretty weird,” Gavin said. “In past years, I’ve had a sprained ankle, but this was the first bigger thing that wound up holding me back. I went to the trainer and she had me stretch it out, but it didn’t really get any better. Then we started icing and heating it, and I was able to play through it.”

Out of the seven Mighty Macs, Gavin has been on the varsity team since her freshman year. She is primarily a guard, averaging seven points and five rebounds. McAuley coach Ashley Luke Clanton, plans to use her at forward more often than last season.

“Vanessa is one of our workhorses,” Clanton said. “We’ll rely on her big defensive assignments. And with her ability to track down a ball and score…she’s just a flat-out tough kid. She rebounds the heck out of the ball and gets the steals and deflections. We were up the floor pressing pretty much the entire time at Buffalo Grove, and the plays that she made caused issues for the other teams. She’s been kind of a sleeper kid, but I think people are going to start taking notice.”