BLOOMINGTON – For the first time in program history, the Alton High School girls basketball team is headed to the state tournament.
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After coming up one game short last season, the Redbirds got their shot at redemption. Taking on the same team, in the same gym, for the same opportunity – a trip to state.
Alton headed north to the IHSA Class 4A Bloomington Super-Sectional hosted at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center where they took on the Waubonsie Valley Warriors of Aurora.
The Warriors won last year’s super-sectional against Alton in overtime by a score of 55-53.
But that wasn’t the main story from their last meeting.
Alton played down a star player when Kiyoko Proctor collapsed on the floor with what was later confirmed as a torn ACL with 41 seconds to go in the first quarter.
The injury saw her miss the opening 10 games of this season, but when she returned, she hit the ground running.
She scored a team-high 23 points Monday night against Waubonsie, 19 of which came in the first half, propelling the Redbirds to a 67-62 victory and their first-ever state tournament berth.
“I definitely had a point to prove because obviously what happened last year, so I really didn’t get to show them what I had and what I’m capable of,” Proctor said. “I came out there and made my shots and did what I was supposed to do.”
“It gave me chills,” an emotional Alton head coach Deserea Howard said of Proctor. “I wanted this so bad for her. It’s been a long year. She has rehabbed; she’s gotten herself back to her moment. And there were times where I looked at her tonight and she wasn’t quitting. I don’t know if I took her out at all. She wasn’t stopping, she wanted this bad. As her coach, I couldn’t be more proud in this moment for her.”
Monday’s game featured 13 lead changes and seven ties throughout. An absolute treat for the fans as it was completely unpredictable.
Waubonsie Valley’s Danyell Mporokoso put the game’s first points on the board as the teams traded baskets to start. Talia Norman scored back-to-back layups to give Alton a 6-4 lead. Proctor split a trip to the foul line before a three-pointer from Mporokoso tied the game at eight. Proctor and Lily Newton traded threes to tie it at 11.
Proctor drilled another longshot to regain the lead before a four-point play from Mporokoso grabbed it right back. Norman scored the frame’s final basket to give Alton a 16-15 lead after one.
Waubonsie opened the second quarter on an 8-4 run to takeover at 22-20. The teams traded baskets once more until another three from Mporokoso put the Warriors ahead 29-27.
But the Redbirds closed the half on an 11-0 run thanks to three triples, two from Proctor and one from Justice Haynes, as well as a basket from Jarius Powers. Alton led 38-29 at the half.
Proctor showed no signs of weakness in the first half.
“I think she took that personally and led with it,” Powers said on Proctor’s injury. “I’m so proud of her to come out here and prove that she’s a problem. [Waubonsie] got lucky last year because she went out. They’re still a good team, but our heads were down. Now we’ve got her back and we’re unstoppable.”
“I think it’s very important to her,” Norman said. “I think she proved something to herself that she can do it. She let herself know that she can do anything.”
But there was still lots of game to play.
The Warriors said, anything you can do, we can do better and proceeded to open the second half on a 13-0 run. Mporokoso hit three straight free throws before another basket. After that, Newton drilled back-to-back threes to give Waubonsie the lead back at 42-38.
The Warriors had flipped the script, outscoring Alton 26-11 in the third to take a 54-49 advantage with eight minutes to go.
Alton wasn’t going to leave Illinois Wesleyan defeated once more. The Redbirds weren’t going down without a fight.
“I just looked at my starters and I said, ‘I’ve got to be able to depend on you right now. We’re not going home. We’ve got to do what we've got to do; we’ve got to dig deep,’” Howard said.
“It wasn’t going our way, but we couldn’t walk out of here tonight without that. We couldn’t, and they delivered, they delivered big.”
Up stepped Norman to the occasion. She scored Alton’s next four baskets on an 8-2 fly by that put the Redbirds back ahead at 57-56.
However, these two teams were going punch for punch until the final knockout.
May Cobb’s emphatic and-one basket made it 59-57 Warriors. While all of this was going on, a key player for Alton was on the bench in foul trouble. Kaylea Lacey picked up her fourth personal foul with 6:53 remaining in the game and was pulled immediately.
She re-entered the game with 3:56 remaining and quickly made an impact. Her basket tied the game back up at 59 as the Warriors called a timeout with just under three minutes left in the game.
From then on, Alton closed the game on an 8-3 run. Norman scored the go-ahead basket and then Lacey added another to make it 63-59 as Alton called a timeout with 18 seconds left.
Lacey came into Monday’s game with a certain fire about her.
“Especially after last year,” Howard said on Lacey. “She didn’t play very well in this game [last year], and this was a big one for her. She wanted to prove that she could play on this stage. Even with the foul trouble we just told her to wait. If you can give us til four minutes, we know you can play four clean minutes, and she did that. I’m proud of her.”
She finished with 16 points while Norman had 18. Norman found most of her success in the post in the second half.
“We just kept giving it to her,” Proctor said. “[Waubonsie] didn’t really mess with her. So, just giving her the ball and she was able to finish. Her energy was really up, and it was just great.”
“That was very important because that was something we were talking about when we were going through our scouting report,” Norman said. “Like, we have the height advantage, and we have the strength, let’s go in there and use what we got.”
Playing a little under the weather still was Jarius Powers. She played very few minutes due to illness last Thursday in the sectional championship against Pekin and still wasn’t fully 100 percent in the super.
“Powers is still down; we wanted to still go with her, but at times I wasn’t sure,” Howard said. “I looked at Norman and I said, ‘You’ve got to finish, you’ve got to close, you’ve got to carry,’ and she did. I’m proud of Jarius because she’s battling a lot right now, and she’s not giving up. Hopefully from now to state she’ll feel better.”
She was thankful to be holding up the super-sectional plaque alongside lifelong friends and fellow seniors Proctor and Norman.
“It feels amazing. They call us the big three and we’ve been rocking with each other for forever,” Powers said. “We’ve been dreaming of this since we started. Words cannot even describe how grateful we are for this opportunity.”
The Redbirds lock in a Friday morning state tournament semifinal against Kenwood (33-3) at 11:30 a.m. from Illinois State University’s Redbird Arena.
Alton (33-2) ended a 21-game Waubonsie unbeaten streak. It was just the Warriors' second loss of the season as their campaign ends at 31-2. Waubonsie’s only other loss was to Fremd (29-5). Fremd is playing Loyola Academy (34-2) in the other state tournament semifinal at 1:15 p.m. Friday.
The Redbirds defeated Fremd 80-72 back on Jan. 4.
“We can play with anybody, and I think tonight proved that,” Howard said. “We just have to get back to the drawing board and focus. Obviously, this was a big hurdle for us, and it was emotional. Stepping in this gym tonight, it brought back a lot, so I’m ready to get up out of here.”
Mporokoso led the Warriors with an astounding 32 points. She scored a team-high 21 points in last year’s meeting. Mporokoso and Waubonsie finished fourth at state last year, losing to Nazareth Academy in the semifinals and Fremd in the third-place game.
The Redbirds will have three days to prepare for the biggest weekend in program history.
“We’re going to go to practice and just try to pay attention and focus on details because the job is not finished,” Proctor said. “We just have to get there, do what we’re supposed to do and handle business. All we ever wanted to do is win state and that’s what we came here to do.”
“We definitely have two more games in us,” Powers said. “This game right here let us know all we need to know.”
A special thanks to our sponsor Carrollton Bank for supporting Riverbender.com’s coverage of Alton Redbirds and Carrollton Hawks girls basketball.
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