Harvest Christian comes up short in 1A super

The final score was beyond deceptive, but it was not the outcome Harvest Christian was searching for Monday night in Romeoville.

The Lions, in their fifth year of varsity girls basketball, were one step from a Final Four berth this weekend in Normal.

But Iroquois West, located 50 miles north of Champaign, was unrelenting on the glass at the Class 1A Lewis University supersectional.

Iroquois had 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone, and its 49-30 advantage in total rebounds was the central difference in its 74-64 victory.

Andrea Fuoss, the Raiders' seventh man, came off the bench to score 15 points and grab a game-high 16 rebounds.

"I didn't have an answer for (Fuoss)," Harvest Christian coach Rich DeTamble said.

"I tell myself after the national anthem that I want to play hard and be aggressive, especially rebounding, all the time," Fuoss said. "That's my role."

The Lions had their record-setting season end at 25-7.

The game was tied at 38-38 at halftime as the opening two quarters were remarkably well played.

Iroquois (28-3) scored the first 5 points of the second half to earn the largest lead of the game, but Paulina Castro and Kylee Knox resumed their first-half heroics.

The Lions' dynamic backcourt duo carried the team with their perimeter shooting and inside wizardry. Castro and Knox combined for seven 3-pointers, with the former leading all scorers with 28 points. Knox added 22 points as the two guards accounted for 50 of the Lions' 64 points.

"Our main focus was on defense, our rotation and on rebounding," Castro said. "(Rebounding) was our main emphasis the whole game."

But the Raiders' inside players were too much for the smaller Harvest Christian players to neutralize.

Iroquois post Taylor Cultra had 21 points and augmented her team-high total with 11 rebounds.

"They had big bodies out there," Knox said of the Raiders' interior players. "They were hard to push out (of the paint)."

Castro had consecutive field goals to forge the penultimate tie, 45-45, in the third quarter, and Morgan Lockwood converted 2 free throws on the ensuing possession for the last tie of the game.

Iroquois scored 5 straight points to take the lead for good.

Castro brought Harvest Christian to within 4 on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, including slicing the Lions' deficit to 66-62 with 1 minute, 38 seconds to play.

But back-to-back turnovers were backbreakers for the Lions, and the Raiders closed out the game with free-throw precision.

"We battled until the very end," Castro said. "You couldn't ask for anything more."

Castro scored 17 of her game-high total in the opening half, but the Lions could never create any significant separation.

"You have to give credit to Iroquois West," DeTamble said. "They dribbled a lot better than I thought they would. They were able to beat our press, which has been our bread and butter this season.

"I'm very proud of the girls."