Lady Devils Claim Regional Title
Congrats on a great season!
By Chris Yucas
February 10, 2012
Rock Falls Sectional (map)
Manager: Rich Montgomery
Mon., Feb. 13 Game 1 at 7:30 pm: Rock Falls vs. Rockford (Lutheran)
Tue., Feb. 14 Game 2 at 7:30 pm: Stillman Valley vs. Spring Valley (Hall)
Thu., Feb. 16 Game 3 at 7:30 pm: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
PRINCETON — Hall seniors Jaclyn Kain, Liz Mosbach and Kelle Nett were in eighth grade the last time the Lady Red Devils beat rival St. Bede.
The Hall senior captains ended four years of futility Thursday night when it mattered most, as hall rallied back from an eight-point third-quarter deficit for a 52-48 win over the Lady Bruins to claim the Class 2A Princeton Regional championship.
“It’s amazing, especially since they’ve always been a big rival. We lost to them by quite a bit earlier this season, so we wanted to come back and play how we wanted to play,” said Nett, who led all scorers with 15 points, including eight in the crucial fourth quarter, and hauled in a game-high 20 rebounds.
Kain said the win “meant the world” to her and her teammates.
“This is all we ever wanted. Me, Kelly and Liz for four years wanted to beat St. Bede so bad. It’s the best game (for us). It’s an indescribable feeling - it feels amazing, it’s awesome,” said Kain, who finished with 14 points and five rebounds for the Lady Red Devils.
Mosbach, who scored all eight of Hall’s first-quarter points and played the Academy back court tight defensively throughout the contest, said the regional title win was even sweeter given that it came over the Lady Bruins, who topped Hall last year in the regional finals and earlier this season in Red Devil Gymnasium.
“It feels great, especially since it’s St. Bede — they’re right across from us and they’re one of our biggest rivals — especially (after) getting beat by 20 points by them last time, when I wasn’t able to play (due to an appendectomy),” Mosbach said. “To come back and beat them for the regional game feels even better, so I’m happy I could do it with this team.”
St. Bede led by eight with six minutes to play in the third quarter, but Hall closed out the frame with a 14-2 run to seize the momentum and a 34-30 lead entering the final eight minutes.
Sophomore Becca Herrmann sparked the Lady Red Devil rally with a baseline jumper, Mosbach converted a layup off a steal and Kain hit a basket on a drive to the hoop to pull Hall within two at 28-26 with 4:22 left in the third.
The two squads traded turnovers over the next 30 seconds. The 6-foot tall center Nett ended the series of gaffes with a display of her shooting prowess, as she nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give Hall its first lead since back-to-back 3s from Mosbach put the Lady Red Devils up 6-4 in the first quarter.
St. Bede battled back early in the fourth, to tie things up at 34 with baskets from senior Carly Ficek and junior Lydia Stariha.
Not content to let their lead slip away the Lady Red Devils once again seized the momentum. Kain hit a short shot, and Herrmann added a layup to give them a little breathing room at 40-35.
Ficek nailed a 3-pointer from up top to pull the Academy back within a basket, but Hall responded with a 8-0 run of four straight free throws from Nett, a bucket in the lane from Kain and a putback from Nett to go up 10, 48-38, with just over two minutes to play.
Not content to give up without a fight, St. Bede retaliated with an 8-0 run of its own with a basket from Abby Milus and back-to-back 3s from Taylor Miller and Stariha to once again claw within two points 48-46 with 1:04 left.
As was the case all evening long Hall struggled at the foul stripe late, as Mosbach converted 1-of-5 over the course of the next 30 seconds.
Ficek drew St. Bede within a single point with a pair of free throws of her own after a rebound of a missed 3-point attempt, at 48-49 with 16.4 seconds left.
Mosbach made good on her next two attempts to put Hall up three with 12 seconds left. Kain added the final exclamation point after a St. Bede turnover. Even though her second free throw was waived off for a lane violation, the lead stood as Nett blocked Fisher’s desperation 3-pointer. Kain missed the final two free throws of the evening as time expired on the Hall win.
Hall finished 15-of-35 from the foul stripe in the contest (18-for-56 from the field), while St. Bede finished 8-of-14 from the free throw line (18-of-63 from the field). The Lady Bruins were whistled for 23 fouls, while Hall had 12.
St. Bede coach Tom McGunnigal blamed the
disparity in fouls and free-throw attempts on poor officiating.
“That was blatantly lopsided, blatantly lopsided. It was unfair out there. Our girls got intimidated by it and it was unfair, 36 (35) free throws to 14 free throws,” McGunnigal said. “Now we were fouling at the end — no doubt about it, but when you’re not playing basketball,and you’re allowed to not play basketball, it’s not right. The regional championship game should be decided on the floor by the players. I saw it the other night in the Kewanee-Hall game, and I saw it tonight not decided by the players.”
McGunnigal added that his squad didn’t follow up on its game plan due to physical defense from Hall.
“We wanted to penetrate a little bit more. We weren’t able to do that. They were able to put their hands on us and keep us from getting into the lane and control where we were going with the dribble - that’s a foul. But that wasn’t being called on our end (offensively), it was being called on their end. They were getting the hand-checks. They were getting the benefit of the hand-check call,” McGunnigal said.
Ficek led St. Bede with 14 points. Dean added nine points and five rebounds while Miller scored eight and grabbed a team-best seven boards.
McGunnigal said his squad showed its character coming back in the fourth quarter.
“They’ve got guts, this team’s got heart. Allalong they’ve played with it. They’ve gone through hard practices, through long seasons. They’ve gone through it together. I thought for a moment that we stopped believing early - but they never stopped believing late. They never stopped believing late and they thought they were going to get it."
With the loss the Lady Bruins close the 2011-12 campaign 26-6.
Hall advanced to 19-11 with the win.
“It’s a long time coming and the girls did well. It’s a great win for Hall High School, a great, great win,” said Hall coach Dave Kain.
Next up for the Lady Red Devils will be a matchup with Stillman Valley, 50-36 winners over Oregon at the Oregon Sectional, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Notes: Hall fell 48-27 Jan. 10th to SBA. ... Princeton’s C.J. Rhodes, Hall’s Kain and Beka Dagraedt and Kewanee’s Jennifer Ensley all advanced in the 3-point shootout.
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