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Rogers' game-winner gives Lake Park emotional regional championship win

She's only a junior but DePaul recruit Darrione Rogers has already made many special shots over her career.

None were more special than Thursday night at the Class 4A Rolling Meadows regional championship.

This shot was for Donna Rupp, the older sister of Lake Park head girls basketball coach Brian Rupp. Donna died from cancer early on Valentine's Day morning at the age of 40 years old.

Eluding three defenders on a big circle move from nearly half court, Rogers swept to the basket for a layup with 6.2 seconds left and it proved to be the difference in Lake Park's 49-47 win over top-seeded Meadows.

The No. 7 Lancers (21-8) advanced to the Batavia sectional on Monday to play No. 4 Wheaton Warrenville South (19-8) in the 6 p.m. semifinal.

"One of Brian's saying is 'one love to the team, one love to the players', '' said fifth-year Lancers assistant coach Jeff Henrikson. "And Brian said Donna passed away on Valentine's Day, the biggest love day of the year, so clearly this was in the cards for him and Lake Park basketball. Donna hasn't been far from our thoughts for months."

"This was definitely for Donna, coach Rupp and his family," said Rogers, who netted a game-high 25 points. "We just wanted everyone to be strong. We came out playing for her. This game was dedicated to Donna and we knew we had to get the job done."

The Lancers got it done in dramatic fashion, defeating the Mustangs for the second time this season.

Senior Kate Kirkham played a big part, hitting four 3-pointers for 12 points.

"We knew this would mean a lot for our coach," Kirkham said. "We've been working for this all season. It's just emotional now."

"We knew we'd have to do it for Donna and this is what she would want. A lot of us knew her. Coach talks about her a lot so we knew her journey throughout and we very supportive of her and our coach"

Brian Rupp, in his fifth season, said he hardly knew what happened in leading the Lancers to their first regional crown since 2009.

"I know Darrione hit the shot," he said. "That's called giving the ball to No. 21 and getting out of the way. And she struggled a little tonight so for her to come out and get the game-winner for us and then to defend the final six seconds, that was really big for us.

"She (Donna) was here today. It was one of those moments for us. It's been rough for her and I'm glad I was able to be here. I couldn't imagine not being here and I can't imagine she wanted me anywhere else."

Lake Park built a 13-3 lead after one quarter but Meadows (21-8), led by junior Susannah Holifield (20 points) and senior Alexa Davis (19), charged back to within 20-18 at half.

Meadows took its biggest lead at 37-32 when sophomore Samantha Elenz assisted on Holifield's layup with 6:45 left in the game.

But Lake Park answered with a 3-point play by Rogers and a 3-pointer by Kirkham to take a 40-37 lead.

Elenz assisted on another layup by Holifield that tied the game at 47-47 with 30 seconds left, setting up the big play by Rogers.

"My shots weren't falling," Rogers said. "I wanted to go to the basket."

And she wanted to do it for Donna.

"We've always been doing things for her, whether it was making posters or baskets," Rogers said. "She has always been part of our family. It's sad but we were fighting for her today."

Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky was proud of his team.

" I thought it was great high school basketball game," he said. "I could not have been prouder of our kids They did almost everything we asked of them. We played a lot of kids (nine in the first quarter because of foul trouble) who hadn't played regular minutes this year, and we said not one showed any fear."

Elenz went man-to-man defending Rogers.

"Sam is good example of when you're a sophomore on varsity there are some ups and downs," Kirkorsky said "We always talk to the kids about getting a little better each day and on the night we needed her the most, Sam showed up and played great on both ends. It's painful to lose a regional championship but I can't ask for anything more from these kids."

Emma Thorne and Casey Darre also contributed big points for Lake Park.

"Since March of last year this is what we've been looking for," Brian Rupp said. "It didn't matter if we had a tough loss in conference or if we had a 30-point win. We were always talking about the regional because once you get to the sectional, you don't know what's going to happen. We are excited for this opportunity."

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