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ALTON – There's a reason why – even though it's February – the Illinois High School Association's state basketball tournament is called March Madness.
Just look at Hillsboro's Class 2A Marquette Regional semifinal game against Piasa Southwestern Tuesday night.
The Piasa Birds seemingly had the Hilltoppers on the ropes and ready for a knockout when, with the Hilltoppers down 36-20 at three-quarter time, Hillsboro staged a huge rally to draw even with the Birds to send the game to overtime. Southwestern, though, came up with the plays they needed in overtime to eliminate Hillsboro 60-55 and move into Thursday night's regional final against host Marquette Catholic, who got past Staunton 35-32 in the evening's opening game (see related story).
The Piasa Birds advanced with a record of 15-11 on the season, while the Hilltoppers were eliminated at 13-12.
“It was everything and more,” said Southwestern coach Steve Wooley. “Everybody got their money's worth tonight.”
Wooley felt the Hilltoppers were the kind of team that could stage a rally like they did in the final quarter. “They've got great shooters and they've got kids that can put the ball on the floor and drive; that's when we started being aggressive at the end,” Wooley said. “I think our inexperience, at times, showed there; obviously, with our ball-handling.
“We had opportunities there that we basically, I thought, tried to give the game away for awhile there, but in the end, it all came out right and we did what we had to do.”
The bottom line, however, was that the Piasa Birds survived and advanced in the tournament. “That's what I told the kids,” Wooley said. “It doesn't matter if you win by one or 10, 50, you win and you get to play again.”
Southwestern got out to a 14-6 lead at quarter time and got it to 26-13 at the half; the third period was Southwestern's again, getting the lead to 36-20 at three-quarter time; the Birds seemed ready to move on to Thursday's final, but that's when the Hilltoppers suddenly became alive.
Hillsboro got on a run that saw them cut the lead first to 40-31 and then rode that hot streak to suddenly cut the lead to 42-40 with just over two minutes left; the Hilltoppers, with the game suddenly moving in their favor, finally tied the game thanks to a pair of Sammi Matoush free throws with 14.8 seconds left in regulation; Piasa had a chance to win the game in regulation, but couldn't get a shot on the basket before the siren, sending the game to overtime.
Both teams traded baskets – a two-pointer and a three-pointer early on, to keep things even at 52-all before the the Birds took over, getting a basket from Molly Novack and free throws from Rylee Smith to pull to a 57-52 lead. Free throws from Abbey Burns and Korrie Hopkins sealed the deal for Southwestern.
Hopkins led Southwestern with 15 points on the night, with Bailey Weibel adding 14 and Novack and Burns 12 each; Hillsboro was led by Matoush's 22 points, with Emily Reynolds adding 14.
“They've got a solid team,” Wooley said of the Explorers. “Our kids are playing their best basketball of the year right now, so I feel good about our chances; we've just got to prepare tomorrow and be ready to play on Thursday.”
