St. Edward falls in 2A title game; Geneva's Loberg gets 1,000th point
St. Edward girls basketball coach Michelle Dawson knew Thursday's Class 2A Wilmington regional championship game against defending state champion Bishop McNamara would be a tough one for her Green Wave.
She was right.
The Fightin' Irish, a surprisingly low No. 6 seed, steadily opened the game up as the night went on and defeated the Green Wave 48-35 to advance to next week's Byron sectional.
"They're good," Dawson said of Bishop Mac. "They truly should have been the No. 1 seed and us No. 2 and we wouldn't have been in the same regional but there's nothing you can do about it.
"We had it down to 6 in the fourth quarter but we had to start fouling and they made their free throws."
Junior Maddie Spagnola led St. Edward (16-11) with 16 points and junior Katie Castoro added 11.
"Our season didn't come down to tonight's game. They have a lot of things to be proud of. They pulled together after Christmas and really had a positive season," said Dawson. "We'll miss our seniors but we're young and we have a lot to look forward to."
Geneva 77, Elgin 32: Geneva senior Grace Loberg, who will play volleyball on scholarship at Wisconsin, scored 22 points in the Vikings' Upstate Eight River win, eclipsing the 1,000-point mark for her career in the process with a post layup. The win also secured a share of the River title for Geneva (22-4, 11-1). Loberg joins Brittany Burger, Taylor Whitley and Kat Yelle in the Geneva 1,000-point club. Margaret Whitley added 14 points for the Vikings while Lakiya Harvey led Elgin (3-23, 1-11) with 16 points.
South Elgin 69, West Chicago 47: Bridgette Williams and Mackie Kelleher had 14 points each and Peyton Chase added 11 as the Storm (19-8, 6-4) won this Upstate Eight Valley game and is now one win from tying the school record for wins in a season. The 2011-12 team won 20 games.
Jacobs 65, CL Central 34: In a Fox Valley Conference crossover, Mahogany Smith had 14 points and Teaghan Richman added 12 for Jacobs (10-16).