Burlington Central punches ticket downstate
Burlington Central sophomore forward Sam Pryor emerged unscathed from a scrum of happy, toppled-over student fans and players and then celebrated on Hoffman Estates' basketball court with anyone she could find.
Her old eighth-grade basketball coach, Terry Sportsman, then found her. This time, she wasn't so lucky.
By the time Pryor was done embracing Sportsman, a Central graduate himself, tears of joy filled her eyes. As she walked away, she wiped away others that had slid down her rosy cheeks.
Pryor's game-high 15 points and 5 rebounds had just helped Burlington Central earn its first trip downstate thanks to a 41-29 win over Carmel Catholic in the teams' Class 3A supersectional showdown Monday night.
"He said, 'You deserve this,' " Pryor said.
That's when she lost it.
As eighth-graders, current Rockets Pryor, Kayla Ross, Shelby Holt and Rebecca Gerke were teammates on a Prairie Knolls Falcons squad that went 34-0. Now, the four sophomores are headed to Normal, where at 12:15 p.m. Friday Burlington Central (27-4) will play Montini (32-2) in a state semifinal at Redbird Arena.
"They don't play young," Carmel forward Cassidy Kloss, who hit two 3-pointers late, as the Corsairs tried making a fourth-quarter comeback, said of the Rockets. "They had a great game, and they played better than us. Hats off to them. I wish them the best of luck at state."
Carmel (24-9) was playing in its first supersectional, after ousting top-seeded Vernon Hills in the Ridgewood sectional final. The Corsairs started five seniors, all of whom had played significant minutes on varsity for at least two years, but they never regrouped after falling behind for the first time late in the second quarter.
Carmel shot just 31 percent (12 of 39) from the floor, missing several layups and other close-range shots.
"I don't know if it was necessarily nerves," Kloss said. "I just don't think we were in sync. I just don't think we were playing that well together. I don't think we were playing our game."
Carmel coach Kelly Perz acknowledged Burlington's Central size and athleticism inside probably contributed to her team's low field-goal percentage.
"I think that bothered us a little bit in the lane," Perz said. "I think were pushing too hard. We missed our first couple of shots and then we went into 'over-adjustment.' And that snowballed for us."
Carmel enjoyed its largest lead (14-7) with nearly two minutes gone in the second quarter. But Pryor's second 3-pointer of the quarter with 1:02 to go had Burlington Central up 17-16 at the half.
"Carmel's a great team," said Pryor, who also sank 2 of 2 free throws in the second quarter. "But my team just worked to get the ball moved around, and they got me right looks. I can't credit myself. My team got me the ball."
Carmel never got the lead back. Burlington Central's advantage swelled to 27-21 by the end of the third quarter, as Pryor knocked down another 3, while Holt (11 points) hit one too.
Then in the fourth, after Carmel's Paige Gauthier (6 points on 3-of-4 shooting) sank a turnaround jumper in the lane with 5:20 left to make it 30-23, Holt cut back door, and Ross found her for a wide-open layup.
When Ross scored on another backdoor dish, the Rockets led 36-23 with 3:03 left. The same play worked late in the third, too, with Holt hitting Ross for an uncontested layup.
"We've been running that all year," said Ross, who had 11 points and 5 steals. "We saw that they weren't helping, so we decided to run it, and it worked."
Kloss and Kathleen Felicelli led Carmel with 8 points apiece. Leah Lach had 7 points and 8 rebounds.
"Whatever it was that we had the last four games in the playoffs, we didn't have it tonight," Perz said.
Burlington Central had the experience of playing in the supersectional on Hoffman Estates' court last year. The Rockets lost that game to Vernon Hills, but they learned from it.
"I think playing here last year helped us," Ross said. "We knew what the gym was like and what the atmosphere was like, and we got through it. We loved it."