Edwardsville's girls blast Rock Island to capture Alton Sectional title
ALTON – Edwardsville opened their IHSA Class 4A Alton Sectional final in a strong way – scoring the first 17 points of the game on their way to a 21-3 quarter-time lead against Rock Island, a complete reversal of how their 2015 Pekin Sectional final went when the Rocks got out to an early lead on the Tigers.
The Rocks weren't going to go away easily, though; they rallied to get the game to 28-20 at the long break and forged a couple of ties in the final quarter, the last one at 42-42 with 3:10 to go and it looked as if a big finish was in store.
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The big finish did happen – but it was all Tigers (30-1), triggered by an unexpected three-point shot from Christ'eon Waters from the right corner with 2:35 to go. The three-ball ignited a final 17-0 run down the stretch for Edwardsville, which included 12 straight free throws from Makenzie Silvey, that gave EHS a 59-42 win over Rock Island (who were eliminated at a school-record 29-4) and put them into Monday night's Bloomington Supersectional at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center against Lisle Benet Academy, who eliminated Oswego East 68-60 in Benet's Sectional final; the Edwardsville-Benet game begins at 7 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Class 4A state tournament in Normal March 4-5.
“We did have a good start,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade. “It was the total opposite of what happened with them last year; they had the great start last year and we had to battle to get back in, so we knew, even though we had the good start, that they were a good team and they were going to battle back and they would climb back in, and they did.
“Our kids really responded well when they tied it up and we kept the ball in good possession at the end of the game and got ot the free-throw line, so that was important. I was really proud of the kids for battling; they boarded really well the second half, though the second quarter got away from us a little bit. Second half, they really concentrated and did a good job on the boards.”
Waters isn't known for her three-point shooting, but the three-ball down the stretch – and another one she had in the first half – proved to be big for the Tigers. “She shoot them all the time in practice,” Blade said, “she doesn't get them off in games too often; she usually sticks with her role, but they allowed her to step out tonight, and fortunately for us, she knocked them down.
“It was huge (Waters' three-pointer down the stretch), and we could pull it out a little bit and spread it out and we hit a ton of free throws down the end and Kate (Martin) hit a couple; Kate Martin played the best defensive game she's played all year on that freshman (Breanna Beal) of theirs and she's an awfully special player. She's good right now and she's going to get better and better; I'm really proud of Kate's effort and I know she had a little bit of help here and there, but (Beal's) a handful one-on-one.”
“We're real proud of our kids for just sticking with it,” Rocks coach Thad Hoover said. “Not saying the game's over when we were down by 20, we came all the way back to get the game in a tie and had a couple of different chances to take the lead and weren't able too; we had a putback layup we missed and hurried a couple of shots; the kids played hard and that's all you can ask as a coach.
“We chipped away and chipped away and got to halftime and at halftime, it kind of stopped the bleeding. They're (Edwardsville) ranked third (in the state Associated Press Class 4A girls poll) for a reason; they've got good players and a good coach and their program is used to winning.”
Silvey's run of 12 straight free-throws down the stretch helped give her 21 points for the Tigers, with Rachel Pranger and Waters both scoring 16 big points for Edwardsville – including Waters' huge three-ball that ignited the final run. Beal led the Rocks with 15 points, with Annika Anderson scoring nine.
With the Tigers now one last step away from the state semifinals, the road doesn't get any easier, with Benet – who eliminated Edwardsville last year – one final obstacle to climb to get to Redbird Arena, and Blade acknowledges the road won't be an easy one to navigate.
“More than likely, it's Benet Academy again, and we'll hopefully get a little bit better start to that game than what we did last year and go from there. But just to have the opportunity again to get to a quarterfinal, to get to the supersectional, is quite a feat for this group.”
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