Girls Basketball: Romeoville topples Plainfield East
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media January 18, 2013 11:42PM
Updated: February 21, 2013 6:35AM
Losing to conference rival Plainfield East at the Montini Tournament over Christmas break on a questionable traveling call, Romeoville has had three weeks to think about the heartbreaker.
Friday night’s game at East certainly was circled on the Spartans’ calendar.
“We tried to wash off that last game and focus on the next game and the next,” Romeoville’s Kiera Currie, victim of the traveling call, said. “We’ve been building up to this.”
Powered by Currie’s 30 points and Brianna Harris’ game-winning three-pointer, Romeoville pulled off the upset, winning 62-58 at Plainfield East in a Southwest Prairie showdown.
“The loss stung because we thought we had that game in hand,” Harris said. “We wanted to come out with intensity.”
Currie hit two huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter on her way to 30 with Harris (13 points), Abby Smith (9) and Angelica Osusky (8) contributing for Romeoville (18-3, 9-0).
In a fourth quarter that already had seen four lead changes, Harris stepped up when the Spartans needed it most. On a secondary play off an inbounds, Ceara Floyd found a wide-open Harris on the wing. The senior drilled the three, putting Romeoville up 58-56 with 34 seconds remaining.
“The play wasn’t for me at all,” Harris said with a smile. “(East) sagged off me defensively, and I got the ball. I didn’t realize I was that open.”
After an East turnover, Osusky connected on two free throws. Gabby Williams responded with a spinning basket inside to cut the deficit to two points.
Currie came through with two huge free throws late while also rebounding one of her own misses to seal the win.
“The plan was get the ball inside (in the fourth), and we didn’t do that,” East coach Missy Mitidiero said. “We had open shots, but we tell the girls ‘When you’re not hitting, don’t settle.’ ”
Nikia Edom (19 points), Faith Suggs (15) and Nina Maggio (11) paced East (17-3, 8-1). The two teams will face off again at Romeoville in each’s regular-season finale.
