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Kaneland knocks out Sandwich

On a night of statistical abnormalities, Ally O’Herron more than delivered for Kaneland.

The 5-foot-6 senior guard personally outscored the entire Sandwich team as the Knights had no troubles advancing at the Class 3A Burlington Central girls basketball regional Tuesday night.

O’Herron drained six 3-pointers in totaling a game-high 20 points in the third-seeded Knights’ 50-14 drubbing of the Indians.

Kaneland (16-10), which did not enable the sixth-seeded Indians (4-22) to reach double digits until a half-minute elapsed in the fourth quarter, will meet No. 2 seed Plano tonight in Burlington in the semifinals.

“I don’t think that (outscoring an entire team) has happened before,” said O’Herron, the only Kaneland player to score from the field in the second quarter. “When I feel it, I feel it. Any time a team is in a zone, I know I’m going to get some looks.”

“We were supposed to be on (O’Herron) at all times,” said Sandwich senior forward Anna Ford, the only Sandwich player to amass more than a single field goal. “Our coach (Randy Malloy) warned us about her.”

It was an unmitigated disaster the entire night for Sandwich offensively.

With Kaneland employing a withering man defense, the Indians found the target six times in 39 attempts for a 15 percent rate.

The Indians went more than 12 minutes in the opening half without scoring as Ford hit a one-handed runner with less than a minute to play before halftime to reduce the Knights’ lead to 22-4 entering the break.

“Other teams find us annoying on defense,” O’Herron said.

O’Herron herself had half of the Knights’ total at halftime; her layup off a Caroline Heimerdinger steal and assist was her only conventional field goal of the game.

“If (O’Herron) gets good looks, she is going to knock a few down,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “She was looking for her shot tonight.”

Ashley Prost, held scoreless in the opening half for Kaneland, made amends with a dominant third quarter, scoring all 6 of her points in the frame while grabbing 5 of her team-high 7 rebounds.

Heimerdinger was the unquestioned leader of the Knights’ bench crew; the southpaw drained two 3-pointers herself in scoring 10 points.

Early in the fourth quarter, O’Herron closed out her performance with back-to-back 3-pointers while her replacement was waiting at the scoring table.

Thirteen players in all saw action for Kaneland.

Ford led Sandwich with 5 points.

“They were without their leading scorer (Jessica Bivens), so that’s going to make for a long night,” Colombe said of Sandwich.

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