Antioch seizes, and celebrates, the moment
It was sensory overload Thursday night in the gym at Antioch.
There were so many compelling visuals, and so many wonderful sounds there in the aftermath of the Class 3A girls sectional championship basketball game that it was almost difficult to know what to focus on next.
Moments after the clock ran out on Antioch's 58-43 victory over North Chicago, the first sectional title in program history for the Sequoits, seniors Carly McCameron and Shannon Zogran sprinted across the court to the jam-packed student section.
They hugged their classmates, slapped high-fives with them, hooted and hollered with them, essentially thanking them for being the best (and loudest) cheering section a team could ever hope for.
The Sequoits (30-3) are now hoping those same fans will follow them to Hoffman Estates High School for their supersectional matchup at 6 p.m. Monday against Montini.
"This is just so crazy and amazing," Zogran said. "Last year, we won regionals and I thought that was pretty awesome. But this feeling right now, being at home and having the fan section here, it just makes the atmosphere amazing and I think the whole team is just on top of the world right now.
"Our fans, I don't know how we would have done without them here. They have been our biggest supporters and some of our best friends are in that fan section cheering us on. It just means so much that they came out and we just knew we had to get over there to thank them."
Meanwhile, as the players were celebrating with the fans, "One Shining Moment," the inspiring song that plays after the men's NCAA national championship game, was blasted over the loudspeaker.
"To have 'One Shining Moment' playing, well, it is (one shining moment) for us," said Antioch coach Tim Borries, whose eyes were tearing up. "Now I know how those college (teams) feel.
"I have chills. The hair on the back of my neck might be raised. You work every year to have this shot. Well, our dream, our shot, our journey isn't over yet. This means everything to us. This means everything to this program. This was our goal. These girls have such heart."
The Sequoits, who took control midway through the first quarter and took advantage of 21 North Chicago turnovers, seem to have captured the hearts of the entire town. Not only were their contemporaries out in full support, so were some much younger fans.
McCameron's mom works at an elementary school in town and some of the girls there came to the game with a huge sign for McCameron. It was made out of a bed sheet, and the girls held it up all throughout the postgame celebration.
The background was a mural of multi-colors. And in the middle, someone had drawn a huge basketball being shot into a hoop. McCameron's name and her number (21) were inscribed at the bottom.
"I go and help those kids a lot at school and a bunch of them have come to our (summer) camps and they made this sheet, they were so excited about it, and that was so awesome. It was so nice of them," McCameron said. "I just feel so good right now. I've been working for this for three years and for it to happen my senior year means so much.
"It's so cool to make it this far and to make school history."
McCameron, who overcame some early foul trouble, finished with 13 points. The Sequoits were led by sophomore guard Amy Reiser, who had 17 points. Kelly Johnson and Ashley Reiser added 8 points apiece.
The Reiser sisters, who are twins, were key to the defensive pressure that caused many of North Chicago's turnovers.
The Warhawks (24-9) were down by as many as 16 points in the third quarter. They cut their deficit to 8 points a couple of times early in the fourth quarter. But Antioch, almost on cue, would then push its lead back into double-figures by converting North Chicago turnovers into points.
"We just weren't ourselves tonight," North Chicago coach Laurence Brown said. "We don't normally turn the ball over like this. I think this was our first time before such a big crowd, with all that noise, we just didn't focus. The butterflies got to us a little bit."
Ladellia Maggett paced North Chicago, which went 0-3 against Antioch this season but put together its best season in recent memory, with a game-high 18 points.
"We just kind of fell apart," Maggett said. "But we're not used to this, the big crowd and such a hyped game. This is our first time here in school history. We were a little nervous.
"But even though we lost, it feels great that we got here. This is our best season in a long time and we're going to build on this."