Girls Basketball: Bolingbrook falls to Young in OT in supersectional
By Phil Brozynski For Sun-Times Media February 25, 2013 11:08PM
Bolingbrook's Alexis Cowan reacts after losing to Whitney Young in overtime Monday night at Hinsdale Central. | Jean Lachat~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 27, 2013 6:16AM
No one expected another four-overtime classic like last year. But after Whitney Young opened a 17-point lead over Bolingbrook in the third quarter of the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Supersectional on Monday, nobody expected this either.
No. 1 Bolingbrook overcame a 44-31 deficit to start the fourth quarter to force overtime, but Khaalia Hillsman scored with eight seconds left and Linnae Harper stole the ball at halfcourt to prevent the Raiders from getting off a final shot as Young escaped with a 61-60 victory.
Young (28-4) will face Marian Catholic (31-1) in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal Friday at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.
“I wanted it so bad,” said Hillsman, a 6-foot-5 junior who scored nine of her 12 points in overtime. “I really wanted it for the team. We really needed it. I know the team needed it so bad. We worked so hard.”
Until Hillsman’s heroics, it looked as though Young’s early dominance would go for naught.
The Dolphins raced to a 21-6 lead after eight minutes on the strength of 11 points from 5-11 junior Taylor Brame (13 points, 6 rebounds). Brame scored on four consecutive first-quarter possessions for the Dolphins on feeds from Harper (twice), Sydney Snower and Madinah Muhammad.
Trailing 29-13 with 3:33 remaining in the second quarter, Bolingbrook (24-6) went on a 6-0 run to get to within 29-19 with 1:54 left before intermission. Destiny Harris (9 points), Amarah Coleman (14 points) and Aysia Bugg (10 points) each had a basket during the run.
A long three-pointer from the corner by Snower (8 points), her second of the first half, allowed Young to go into the break with a 32-19 lead.
Harper (26 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists) took over in the third quarter for Young, scoring eight points to keep Bolingbrook at arm’s length. Her end-to-end basket after a steal gave the Dolphins a 44-28 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the period.
But after a three-pointer by Kennedy Cattenhead (14 points) got Bolingbrook to within 44-31 late in the third quarter, the Raiders came alive in the fourth, outscoring the Dolphins 17-4 to force overtime.
A free throw by Kristen Moore 12 seconds in the extra session gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 49-48, but Young responded every time Bolingbrook retook the lead.
“We knew we had to score every time they scored,” Harper said. “We had to play together and we had to play hard. I just kept telling everyone I’m not about to do another overtime.”
The loss means Bolingbrook failed to get downstate for the second straight year. Until last year, Bolingbrook had not failed to get downstate since 2004 when it was knocked out of the state tournament in a sectional semifinal by Benet.
