Burlington Central dominates Kaneland in 3A regional final
Kaneland girls basketball coach Ernie Colombe's game plan Friday night was solid. He did not want his Knights to get beat by 3-pointers.
So instead, Burlington Central went inside and Kaneland had no answer for Rockets' 5-foot-10 senior Becca Gerke.
Gerke, the fourth leading scorer on the team, torched the Knights for a game-high 17 points, including her team's first 13 of the game, as No. 2 seed Central won its third regional title in the last four years, dominating the third-seeded Knights 49-30 in the Class 3A final on Rocket Hill.
Burlington Central (25-4), ranked No. 10 in Class 3A, will travel to Rochelle on Monday to face No. 5 Rockford Lutheran (28-2) in the 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal. St. Francis, which upset No. 1 seed Sycamore on Friday, will take on Rockford Boylan in the 6 p.m. semi.
“She's a great player,” Colombe said of Gerke, who also had 3 steals and 2 assists. “We really keyed on (Sam) Pryor and (Shelby) Holt and tried to keep them from the 3-point shot but it's pick your poison with them and (Gerke) stepped up.”
“Becca had the game of her life,” said Rockets' coach Mark Smith. “She's capable of doing that. She made some plays and got us off to a great start.”
To Gerke, it was about something the Rockets learned in their lopsided loss to Class 4A power Montini at the end of January.
“We all knew after the Montini game that we can't always rely on Sam and Shelby for all the scoring and they embraced that role to help get other people open,” Gerke said. “Tonight once I figured out I could drive I was more confident.”
With the game still close at 8-6, the Rockets went on a 9-2 run to end the first quarter with a 17-8 lead. Kaneland never got closer. Central scored the first 8 points of the second quarter and allowed the Knights (23-5) just a single free throw in the period, taking a 29-9 lead at halftime. With more attention being focused on Gerke, the Rockets did get two 3-pointers in the quarter, one from Pryor (12 points) and one from senior Kayla Ross (11 points).
And as BC was being efficient on offense — the Rockets were 15 of 30 shooting on the night — they were stingy as ever on defense. Through three quarters Kaneland had only taken 16 shots and the Knights finished 10 of 30 and just 3 of 14 from 3-point range. Ross held Knights' senior Camri Conley scoreless until the Kaneland point guard made a layup with 3:37 left in the game. She finished with 5 points while senior Bailey Crimmins and junior Kylie Modaff had 6 each for the Knights.
“It was just a great effort by a bunch of girls who want to finish the right way,” said Smith, whose team was upset by Sycamore in a regional final last year. “They did a great job defensively tonight and now we move on to the next step.”
All Colombe could do was give credit where credit's due after BC eliminated his team from the postseason for the second straight year.
“Tip your hat to them,” he said. “They locked us up pretty good defensively. We did a good job on them for them most part, holding them to three 3s but that's a great group of seniors, as we feel ours are. They're our rival but I hope they make a run.”