GILLESPIE – After trailing by nine points multiple times throughout the game, the Marquette Catholic girls basketball team was able to come back and beat Gillespie in an IHSA Class 2A regional semifinal hosted by the Miners.
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The No. 3-seeded Miners played host to the regional and took on No. 5-seeded Marquette in the second semifinal of the night on Monday.
The Explorers won 39-32, earning a spot in Friday’s regional championship against No. 2-seeded Staunton (26-5) at 7 p.m.
“I’m so proud of them,” Marquette head coach Whitney Sykes-Rogers said. “We never got too far away, and that was a key point, to keep it in single digits and keep it sustainable.”
Marquette led early on thanks to a game-opening three-pointer from Delaney Ortman and a basket from Laila Davis to lead 5-1. But the Miners closed the first quarter on a 9-1 run to go up 10-6.
Marquette’s dynamic duo of Kel’c Robinson and Allie Weiner both played limited minutes in the second quarter after both picking up their third personal foul early on.
While that was going on, the Miners went on a 9-2 run to increase the gap to 19-8. The Explorers ended the half on a 6-0 run to make it 19-14 at halftime.
Marquette outscored the Miners 6-4 in the third quarter and made it a one-possession game at 23-20.
A basket-and-one from Caylee Rhodes tied the game up at 23 to start the fourth. The teams traded baskets until the Miners went ahead 27-25. That was around the time Gillespie got into some foul trouble as Delaney Taylor fouled out with 4:48 remaining.
Right after that the Explorers went on a 10-0 run to take the lead at 35-27. A three-point play from Gillespie’s Mia Brawner made it 35-30 right before Weiner fouled out with 1:30 left in the game.
From there, Marquette was in the shooting bonus and did enough to finish out the game.
“We just needed to settle down a bit,” Sykes-Rogers said. “Gillespie did a great job of taking Kel’c [Robinson] away from us on the defensive end, but in the second half, she was able to get the ball and get her offense going.”
Robinson may have only finished the game with five points, but she opened up things for her teammates, allowing other players like Rhodes to have a nice 12-point night.
“To have a freshman, Caylee Rhodes come off the bench and give us such great minutes, and score points, so excited for her,” Sykes-Rogers said.
Ortman finished with 11 points, Davis had eight, and Weiner had three.
“Our defense and our rebounding is what won us that game in the second half,” Sykes-Rogers said. “I felt like in the first half, we didn’t get any rebounds, defensively, offensively, nothing. And then the second half we came out and rebounded the ball.”
Gillespie was led in scoring by Brawner with 10 while Amari Vickrey and Taylor each had seven. The Miners season ends at 22-9.
Marquette will take on Staunton, a team they have beaten this season already back on Jan. 28 in the second round of the Carrollton Lady Hawk Invitational by a score of 40-33.
“Yeah, but that was several weeks ago,” Sykes-Rogers said. “We know they’re going to bring it, they play hard, we know what they do. I’m excited for it.”
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