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SEE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH EDWARDSVILLE COACH LORI BLADE:
CHAMPAIGN – Coming off a one-point win in Friday night's IHSA Class 4A Belleville East Regional final, Edwardsville found themselves with another tough challenge in Chatham Glenwood Monday night.
“They (the Titans) are a tough team, just because they are so pesky on defense and so physical,” Tiger coach Lori Blade said following EHS' 51-40 win over Chatham in an IHSA Class 4A Champaign Centennial Sectional semifinal, a win that put them in Thursday night's final against Rock Island, who defeated Bradley-Bourbonnais 79-48 in Monday's other semifinal.
The Tigers-Rocks final is set for 7 p.m., with the winner taking on either Frankfort Lincoln-Way East or Chicago Mother McAuley – whoever comes out of the Mother Mac Sectional Thursday – in the Illinois Wesleyan Super-Sectional Feb. 26 for a trip to next weekend's Class 4A state tournament at Redbird Arena in Normal.
Edwardsville remained undefeated in moving to the final with a mark of 28-0; the Titans were ousted from the tournament at 23-9 on the year.
“I thought we did some really good things,” Blade said. “We just turned the ball over uncharacteristically in certain situations; we need to focus on that a little bit.”
Edwardsville got a well-timed spark down the stretch from Myriah Noodel-Hayward, who had some key scores that helped keep Chatham at bay after she missed most of the first half. “Her sitting the majority of the first half didn't help any,” Blade said, “offensively, rebounding and that; it is what it is, and we battled through and some kids came in and gave us good minutes.
“Our starters did a nice job handling the pressure.”
Kate Martin led the Tigers with 15 points, with Quierra Love adding 13, Noodel-Hayward 10 and Rachel Pranger nine; Blade believes that a team performance like that is something they will need going up against Rock Island Thursday night.
“We will,” Blade said when asked about that. “We aren't about one kid – that's the good part about this team, but we have to defend better and be disciplined enough to go get kids off the boards; we've got to value possessions more than we have.”
