CARROLLTON – Last year was a tough pill to swallow for the Marquette Catholic girls basketball team.

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Especially the Carrollton Lady Hawk Invite.

A season ago, the Explorers lost to Calhoun in the first round and then were eliminated from the consolation bracket by Father McGivney’s JV team.

In 2025, the Explorers upset Carrollton in the tournament’s 50th installment with a statement win, taking the game 52-51 after overtime.

“I mean, I can’t tell how much prouder I am of this group,” Marquette head coach Whitney Sykes-Rogers said after the semifinal win. “Last year, at this point, we lost to a JV team in this tournament. The fact that this year, with the same core group of kids with some amazing additions to us, we’re in the championship game. If that can’t tell you resilience, I don’t know what does. They fought as hard as you can ask.”

But early on, it looked like the Hawks were going to cruise into a championship rematch against Calhoun.

Kel’c Robinson put the first points on the board to take a 2-0 Marquette lead, but from there Carrollton closed the first quarter on a 13-2 run.

Harper Darr hit a deep three-pointer to immediately take control for the Hawks followed by three baskets from Lauren Flowers and another from Megan Camden.

Flowers just became Carrollton’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing the record that her mother Stosha (DeShasier) Coomer set in 1977. The number to beat was 1,863 points.

Flowers needed 30 points entering Carrollton’s first-round game against Roxana to beat the record.

She proceeded to net 31 points. She then put up another 20 points against Liberty in the second round. She finished with 12 points against Marquette in the semifinals to bring her current career total to 1,897 points.

“Unbelievable,” Carrollton head coach Brian Madson said about Flowers’ new record.

“What she’s been able to accomplish throughout her career is just remarkable. She’s a special girl, one that comes around, seems like every generation. And even sweeter breaking her mom’s record. I couldn’t be prouder of Lauren and what she’s been able to accomplish,” Madson said.

Flowers and the Hawks led the Explorers 13-4 after the first quarter.

Marquette opened the second with a couple of free throws from Laila Davis and a basket from Allie Weiner to make it 13-8 before Darr hit another three to extend the lead for the Hawks.

Carrollton kept Marquette at bay until halftime, still leading 28-22.

The Hawks opened up the second half on a 12-4 run to get to their largest lead of 14 points at 40-26.

Hayden McMurtrie and Blake Driskill hit back-to-back threes, to make it 36-24, forcing the Explorers into a timeout with 5:16 left in the quarter.

Robinson scored out of the timeout before Chloe McAdams and McMurtrie made it 40-26.

From there, Marquette closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to make it 42-35 after three. Robinson splashed a three followed by straight baskets to close things out.

Opening the fourth, Weiner scored first, and then Robinson connected on another three to make it 42-40. The Hawks pulled away momentarily before Weiner’s three tied things up at 45 with 1:28 remaining in regulation.

Driskill scored for Carrollton to go ahead before Delaney Ortman scored for Marquette to tie it at 47.

Both teams had chances to hit a game-winner but late turnovers and missed shots saw the game remain tied, forcing overtime.

The teams exchanged single free throws to tie it at 48 before arguably the biggest shot of the game.

Ortman got the ball right inside the arc, took a step back, and heaved up a three-point shot that connected to make it 51-48 Explorers, their first lead since the jump.

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“She had been skittish to shoot a little bit, and I was like, ‘Hey, you’re open, and you’re one of our better shooters.’ I know she’s only a freshman, but that’s a big shot in an overtime game to make that,” Sykes-Rogers said on Ortman.

Flowers sank two free throws to make it 51-50 before Robinson made one-of-two foul shots to make it 52-50. Robison was then called for a technical foul, sending Flowers back to the line with 19.7 seconds left with a chance to tie the game.

She went one-for-two to make it 52-51 and still had possession after the technical. The Hawks worked the ball around but couldn’t get the shot off they wanted, and Marquette hung on for the win.

From nine points down after the first quarter and 14 points down midway through the third, the Explorers rallied to earn a spot in Saturday’s championship game against Calhoun (21-3).

“I kind of expected that,” Sykes-Rogers said on her team’s slow start. “I knew they were going to be nervous. This is a big crowd, a great crowd to see for girls basketball games. But once we settled in, we didn’t get too far out of reach, and I told them that after the first quarter. I said, ‘Listen, you’re down by nine points, that’s nothing.’ We could have been down by 20 at that point. They just hung in there, and even when we got down by 12 or 13 in the third quarter, they still did not give up and kept creeping in.”

Weiner ended up the game’s leading scorer with 21 points while Robinson chipped in 16. Ortman had nine and Davis had six.

After the game, Weiner said that Thursday’s game just came to her.

“Usually, I’m rushing, but for some reason, this game just came to me, and I was able to put the ball in, more than I really have all this season,” she said. “And that’s all on my teammates. My teammates were feeding me at the right times, and they trusted me to make those big shots. I appreciate them.”

She did so while working through some wrist issues. She was seen warming up with a thick wrist brace on her right wrist but decided not to wear it in game, electing for some tape instead.

“She’s had some wrist issues that she’s trying to figure out what’s best,” Sykes-Rogers said. “I think she was worried the wrist guard was bothering her, so she took it off. But she’s a tough kid. She’ll do whatever it takes to stay in the game.”

Weiner said that the injury occurred during a game against Hillsboro back on Dec. 11. She went up for a layup but wiped out, landing hard on her wrist, spraining it in the process she said.

But she played through it on Thursday because her team felt like it had something to prove.

“Our team really just wanted to come out. No one really expected us,” Weiner said. “We’re coming in with a younger team and just showing people what we’re capable of.”

The one-two combination of Weiner and Robinson oftentimes leads their team in scoring. Sykes-Rogers praised them both.

“She played like we needed her to play. She had a great game,” she said on Weiner.

“And Kel’c, at the end of the game, she was frustrated. She knows better than to do something like that, but you know what, the kid plays so hard. She’s grown so much since her freshman year when I was first around her,” Sykes-Rogers added on Robinson.

The Explorers improved to 16-9 on the season as it was their fifth straight win. They’ll take on Calhoun, 40-34 winners over Nokomis, in the championship game on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

The Explorers and Warriors played one another close 11 days ago as Calhoun won 41-34 in game that saw both teams missing players due to illness.

Weiner led that game with 26 points and Robinson had 11.

Marquette believes it can beat the Warriors.

“You have to go in there like that,” Sykes-Rogers said. “You can’t go in there like they’re just going to run the floor with us. We can’t have that attitude. We could have had that attitude tonight, and we didn’t. We didn’t fold up, and now we’re where we’re at. We’re just going to go out and play. Tell the kids, don’t worry about the other team, worry about ourselves.”

“I think we’re fully capable,” Weiner said. “They are a great team, 100 percent. They have the height, they have the guards, but at the same time, we played them really close at home. So, I’m very excited to see what we can do.”

On the other side for Carrollton is a stinging pain of being knocked out of their own 50th annual tournament.

“Definitely stings but give credit to Marquette,” Madson said. “They definitely wanted it more than we did down the stretch there. We just have to know when to keep fighting.”

“Our goal was to be playing in the championship, but our overall season goal is a deep run in the playoffs,” Madson added. “We’ll take a loss now if we can have a deep run here in about two weeks.”

The Hawks fell to 19-7 on the season and will take on Nokomis (21-4) for third place on Saturday at 5 p.m.

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