Barrington will play for sectional championship
Barrington's girls basketball team was playing its first sectional game since 2011.
"It felt awesome to finally be able to play in a sectional," said Fillies four-year starter Taylor Thompson.
Thompson made it an awesome ending for Fillies' fans by sinking 2 free throws with 3.7 seconds left to lift No. 2 Barrington to a 54-52 win over No. 1 Rockford Auburn in the Class 4A Huntley sectional on Tuesday night.
The Fillies (22-9) will face No. 1 seed Dundee-Crown (28-6) in Thursday's 7 p.m. title game.
Thompson's clutch free throws capped yet another double-double for the 6-foot senior as she finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She made 10 of 12 free throws.
Sophomore Laura Mahlum (9 rebounds) and freshman Sophie Swanson (8 rebounds) each chipped in 10 points while senior Anna Mae King added 9 for the Fillies.
"I was praying she'd (Thompson) make those last 2 free throws," said King, who took a pass from Thompson and converted a big driving left-handed layup that gave her team a 49-48 lead with two minutes left.
Thompson added a free throw with 1:25 left that made it 50-48 before a layup by Auburn sophomore Brooklyn Gray (20 points) tied it at 50 with 1:17.
Thompson got the Fillies back in front 52-50 with a 10-footer from the baseline with 35.1 seconds left.
The drama intensified when Gary zipped a nifty pass to senior Mariah Hill (16 points) for a layup and a 52-52 tie with 12.5 seconds to go.
As the clock wound down, Thompson got fouled while going for an offensive rebound to set up her winning free throws.
"I kind of like having pressure on me like that," said Thompson, who will play at the University of Missouri-St Louis. "I just wanted to be able to make those and help my team. I was just like 'I have to do this, we have to win.' "
Fillies Hall of Fame coach Babbi Barreiro has seen Thompson hit plenty of big shots in her career.
"She's a talented player," Barreiro said. "Taylor is doing some real nice things for our team. She made a couple of beautiful passes. That one to Anna Mae was huge."
The Fillies trailed 17-8 with 7:08 left in the first half and Swanson was on the bench with her third foul.
However, unfazed, the Fillies went on a 26-5 run and led 34-22 when Thompson hit 2 free throws with 4:57 left in the third quarter.
"I liked how the girls rallied when Sophie got that third foul," Barreiro said. "That says volumes of our players coming off the bench and doing a good job. I thought (sophomore) Gracie Stagnito did a real nice job running the offense there and all of our kids just giving us real good minutes."
The Knights (26-7) came into game averaging 62 points.
"We knew they were a great, strong team and had a lot of scoring weapons," Barreiro said. "So we wanted to keep them down, which I think we were able to do at times.
"There were certainly some things we could have done better down the stretch to hold the lead. But at this time of the season you're just trying to move on."
Which is exactly what the Fillies did.
"It feels awesome," King said. " We worked so hard for this so it's really special for our team."
And it was another special game for Thompson.
"I knew she was going to make those free throws," Swanson said. "She is a great free-throw shooter. Without Taylor, I don't know how this game would have turned out.
"We all came together as a team and that's what helped. Taylor had a great game and made a huge impact."
Free throw shooting had an huge impact in game as Barrington was 14 of 16 while the Knights were 7 of 14.
"We were 14 of 16 and we were disciplined in shooting," Barreiro said. "I'm so happy for the kids. They've worked so hard and put so much time and effort into things. They worked as a team tonight. And we had big shots and timely buckets from Laura Mahlum, Anna Mae and certainly Shanna (Turczynski), who hit a big 3-pointer in the third quarter.
"And, of course, Taylor did the job she was supposed to do."