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Boylan ends Dundee-Crown's season

ROCKFORD - Dundee-Crown's girls basketball team didn't lose Monday night for lack of effort or skill.

The Chargers hung with a bigger and more experienced Rockford Boylan team through the first half but a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and the Titans' subsequent third-quarter blitz was too much for D-C to overcome in a 65-43 loss in the Class 4A Rockford Guilford sectional semifinals.

"They're a talented team but I do believe we are too," said second-year Dundee-Crown coach Sarah Miller, who had the Chargers in a sectional for the first time since 2003. "I'm proud of the girls. They made a name for Dundee-Crown basketball. We just told them to keep their heads held high."

Boylan (26-8) will now take on No. 8 Huntley (27-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday for the sectional championship. Huntley got past Crystal Lake South 44-40 in Monday's second semifinal. The Red Raiders, who lost to Boylan in last year's sectional final at CL South, beat the Titans 48-43 in this season's MLK Tournament championship game at DeKalb.

Boylan started Monday's game on a 10-2 run that left the Chargers (17-16) battling uphill all night.

But D-C did battle. The Chargers fought back from the early deficit and forged an 18-18 tie with 1:55 left in the first half when they went on a 7-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from junior Melissa Barker, who hit four in the game and led D-C with 14 points.

After Boylan senior Kayla Steward, who scored a game-high 21 points with four 3-pointers, nailed back-to-back 3s to put Boylan back up by 6, 24-18, Barker hit another one with 45 seconds left in the half to make it 24-21.

Then came the backbreaker. Steward nailed a long 3 as the buzzer sounded to give the Titans a 27-21 lead and start them on a 24-4 run that ended with Boylan in command, 51-25 early in the fourth quarter.

"The 3 really helped us out," said Boylan coach Paul Perrone. "We were having trouble scoring inside and that gave us some momentum and emotion."

"We knew (Steward's) capabilities and she got away for some nice 3s," Miller said. "It was a little disappointing to go in (at halftime) with that last 3, We talked about digging deep and getting some stops and that didn't happen in the second half."

The Chargers were able to cut the lead under 20 only once in the fourth quarter, on a 3 from Barker with 6:21 to play that made it 53-34. But Boylan, which made 26 of 56 from the field and had only 10 turnovers, pulled away to as much as a 63-38 lead with 1:33 left.

The Titans also clamped down on defense, holding D-C senior Jesania Laboy to 12 points after she scored 22 in the Chargers' regional final win over Jacobs.

"We thought their outside shooting was a little suspect so we wanted to keep an eye on Laboy and double down on her," Perrone said. "I was real pleased with our defense tonight."

Dundee-Crown made just 18 of 53 field goal attempts and had 19 turnovers. The Chargers were also outrebounded 40-33. Laboy had 10 rebounds and senior Lauren Lococo 8 for D-C.

"They came out really strong and they were hitting all their shots," Lococo said of the Titans. "They were hard to defend but we knew we were going to go out fighting. We have all worked so hard to get to this point. It's hard to end on this note."

Senior Emily Crouch added 11 points and 12 rebounds for Boylan. Sophomore Bridget Bishop and senior Halle Stull had 8 points each.

Images: Dundee-Crown vs. Rockford Boylan, girls basketball

  Dundee-Crown's Creighton Fed lays up a shot against Rockford Boylan Monday in the Class 4A sectional girls semifinal in Rockford. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Dundee-Crown's Jesania Laboy shoots against Rockford Boylan Monday in the Class 4A sectional girls semifinal in Rockford. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Dundee-Crown's Kayla Lawrence shoots against Rockford Boylan Monday in the Class 4A sectional girls semifinal in Rockford. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  Dundee-Crown's Jesania Laboy gets hit in the face during a scrum for a loose ball against Rockford Boylan Monday in the Class 4A sectional girls semifinal in Rockford. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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