Geneva's Whitley wins Queen of the Hill title

NORMAL - Not bad for a fun little thing to do.

That's how Geneva senior Margaret Whitley described competing in this weekend's 3-Point Showdown.

Whitley started Thursday by making 11, advancing her to the final four Class 4A shooters. She hit 10 on Friday night to win that, just before she took the court and scored a game-high 23 points in Geneva's 58-41 win over Maine West in the Class 4A state semifinals.

Whitley returned to Redbird Arena Saturday afternoon to compete with the Class 1A, 2A and 3A champions, and Whitley once again beat them all to earn Queen of the Hill honors.

"It was exciting," Whitley said. "It was kind of a plus to come down here with my team and also do this at the same time. It was a little fun thing to add. I enjoyed it."

Whitley won Saturday's title in a shootout. She started by making 8 of her 15 attempts from the two wings and the top of the key.

Kai Koehler from Dunlap, the 3A champ, and Logyn Little from 1A West Central Co-op also made eight. That moved all three shooters to the baseline for the playoff, five shots from each side.

The baseline is not Whitley's favorite spot on the court.

"I don't really like the baseline," the University of Alabama-Birmingham recruit said. "I don't really think about it in the game, It's not that I'm not going to shoot from the baseline, but I do like shooting from the wings more."

Whitley missed her first two shots, made her next two, then missed two more. She caught fire just in time, sinking four in a row to finish 6 of 10 - one more than both Koehler and Little made.

Whitley took her plaque and went up into the stands to celebrate with her Geneva teammates and coaches.

Whitley, who entered state having made 89 of her 212 attempts from the 3-point arc (42 percent) during the season, competed in the contest all four years, also making it to state last year.

"I like it, I like 3-point shooting, that's why I do it," Whitley said. "It's another fun thing to work for and to add."