Antioch reaches final by beating St. Francis

St. Francis learned Tuesday that a short-handed Antioch girls basketball team is still pretty formidable.

Despite the absence of 5-foot-11 center Maddie Murillo (ankle) and 5-8 guard Amy Reiser (back), the Sequoits were able to turn back St. Francis 68-52 to advance to the championship game of the Lisle Holiday Cage Classic.

Not that the Sequoits would get any sympathy from the Spartans, who are battling injuries of their own. When freshman Madison Wisted tore her ACL in Saturday's tournament opener, it marked the third point guard St. Francis has lost this season.

The dearth of healthy bodies was evident Tuesday after St. Francis (7-4) sliced a 48-29 third-quarter deficit to 57-48 with 4:28 remaining in the game.

"Our core only has so much gas in the tank to give, and I think at that point that was their peaking moment," St. Francis coach Melissa Taylor said. "We were either going to break the mountain or we were going to start sliding back again, and unfortunately, with some fouls, we ended up sliding down again."

Antioch (15-0) used a box-and-one to stymie St. Francis star Mia Mazza, who had 5 steals and 4 rebounds but finished with only 6 points.

"We knew No. 21 (Mazza) and double-zero (sophomore Antwainette Walker) are their best players," Antioch coach Tim Borries said. "It was a matter of pick my poison. I decided to try to take one of them out. They made a nice adjustment in the second half, so we went to a triangle-and-two."

Antioch still had trouble containing Walker, who finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Walker scored 7 points in a span of 1:52 to get the Spartans within 9 points midway through the fourth quarter.

"Walker is an unreal athlete," Taylor said. "We try to take advantage of that. But all the girls - (Isabel) Bettag, (Sloane) Baumgartner, (Reagan) Sproat, (Maggie) Henseler - they bring it every day, the hustle, the energy, the effort. Everyone has a role. We don't rely on just one person to make us successful."

St. Francis will play for third place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Antioch will be in the championshp game at 8 p.m.

"I have no doubt in my mind that Antioch is a very good team and kudos to them, but we are building and building and building," Taylor said. "If you would have seen our very first game at the Willowbrook Turkey Tournament, we have come a long way.

"We have a long way to go, too, so expect more as the season continues," Taylor added.