Harlan's press ends Timothy Christian's playoff run

Jordyn Strube and the Timothy Christian girls basketball team saw Harlan play Tuesday night in the regional semifinal and knew they liked to press. A lot.

But seeing Harlan's press didn't give them a full grasp on just how quick and relentless it really was.

"We're not used to the super-fast guards," Strube said. "It stumped us, almost. Even their taller players were fast, too. Everybody was quick and they were just deflecting our balls really well. We're used to a 1-3-1 (zone defense), but we're not used to a 1-3-1 like that."

Harlan's press gave Timothy Christian fits all night. The Falcons forced 29 turnovers en route to a 58-37 win over the Trojans in the IHSA Class 2A Chicago Christian sectional final. Harlan will face Monticello in the Pontiac supersectional Monday night.

For all of their turnover problems, Timothy Christian (20-10) found itself in a position to get back in the game in the fourth quarter. With 5 minutes, 26 seconds to play, Lauren Gehrke found Emily DeBoer in the post for a layup that made it a 42-32 game.

"I think at that point, we had a lot of momentum," DeBoer said. "We started playing harder defense on them."

But Harlan (24-7) rediscovered its defensive pressure. The Falcons forced turnovers on four of the Trojans' next seven possessions, building the lead to 20 points.

"We made a run, they made a run," Harlan coach Eddie Niles said. "I'm just glad we made a run at the beginning and at the end."

Strube and the Trojans were hoping to get one more basket when the deficit was at 10.

"If we were under 10, I think we could've definitely done it," Strube, who finished with a team-high 13 points, said. "Everybody would have had the adrenaline going on. We just couldn't get it under double digits. I think that's what really got us."

Harlan had a simple game plan.

"We like to attack the ball," Niles said. "Defensively, we attacked the ball and trap and make them throw the ball away."

It worked from the start. Timothy Christian's first four possessions of the game were turnovers.

Then Harlan started getting hot offensively. The Falcons scored 9 of the game's first 10 points and allowed only two shots in the first 3:15 of the game.

"It's definitely tough," DeBoer said. "They were very fast, they have long arms, (and) they're all pretty tall."

Strube found Olivia Schuringa for a layup with 4:15 left in the first quarter for Timothy Christian's first field goal.

"We had said it's probably going to be a few minutes before we figure it out," Timothy Christian coach Michele Strube said. "We said it might get a little hectic. Until we figure out what we as a team need to do, it was going to be like that.

"We got within 10 in the fourth quarter, it was just those turnovers."

Timothy Christian found its footing a bit in the second quarter. The Trojans cut the deficit to 8 points when Sureya Alex found Gehrke for a 3-pointer that made it 22-14.

But again, Harlan's pressure got to Timothy Christian, forcing turnovers on the next four possessions.

"When they started pressing, that's the only thing that was going through my head, get it to a post so they could do a layup and we just couldn't get through their press," Jordyn Strube said. "We were able to get through it, but not completely. It was difficult against us."