Maine West can't overcome Evanston's quick start

Going up against a 23-5 team on its home floor and facing a 16-3 deficit less than five minutes into the game, Maine West deserved a high mark for just making the game interesting by the final quarter.

But Evanston's 6-foot junior forward-guard Leighah Amori Wool was right on the mark after the Warriors dwindled the Wildkits' lead to 38-32 with 7:17 left in the game.

Amori Wool scored her team's final 8 points, finishing with a game-high 23 points, to lead the No. 2 seeded Wildkits to their fourth regional title in five years with a 46-35 victory over the No. 7 Warriors on Friday in the championship game of the Class 4A Evanston girls basketball regional.

"She (Amori Wool) posted us up and that hurt a little," said Maine West coach Derril Kipp, whose Warriors were going after a 25th regional crown. "She's a tough player inside."

While Amori Wool's scoring was winning the game for Evanston, Rachel Kent's scoring was keeping West in the game.

The Warriors' 5-foot-9 freshman (team-high 22 points, 3 rebounds) scored 12 of her team's last 14 points.

"She's just a very talented freshman," Kipp said. "She has a of basketball skills. All she will do is grow and get better every game."

This game started out all Evanston, which used a 12-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Allysah Boothe, one of five juniors in the Wildkits' starting five.

Kent's 3-point play with 15 seconds left in the opening period got West to within 19-12 but Amori Wool's 3-pointer just before the buzzer increased the lead to 10 points.

The Warriors trailed 32-19 at half and were down by 17 when Amori Wool hit another 3-pointer with 5:47 left in the third quarter to make it 38-21.

West then went on an 11-0 run, getting nine points from Kent and a layup by sophomore Jessica Riedl.

"I thought Jessica Riedl and Destiny (Oyneise, also a sophomore) played pretty well inside," Kipp added.

Sophomore Allison Pearson made 3-of-4 shots and finished with 6 points in limited playing time due to foul trouble.

Classmate Catherine Johnson contributed 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 points and 2 steals.

"It was a tough beginning for us," Kipp said. "I thought we might have been a little intimidated and we dug a hole for ourselves which was the difference in the game."

The Warriors' 1-3-1 zone proved successful against a Wildkits' team that averaged more than 60 points.

"Instead of man-to-man which we played most of the season, we were trying a different defense and I thought it worked pretty well," Kipp said. "They beat us on rebounds and layups. Offensively, we didn't run things the way we wanted."

Also contributing offensive points for West were Johnson, and senior guard Kayla Pociejewski.

"I'm proud of how far we've come from last season (9-19 to 21-8 this season)," Pociejewski said. "We had so many injuries and still came a long way from last season."

"It was a little rough at the start but once we got into a rhythm we played with more force and with the confidence that we could win the game," said senior Monica Liwag, who returned from offseason ACL surgery. "We played our hearts out in the second half."

Kent is already looking forward to next season.

"This was fun," she said. "It was a new experience and I hope we can do it again. I thought we were a little intimidated at the start but once we settled into the game we got in the flow. Our seniors really helped us this season."

Kent scored West's first 5 points and final nine.

"Defensively, I thought we shut down all their other players," said Evanston coach Elliot Whitefield. "I thought Brianna Miller did an awesome job on No. 15 (Kent) in the fourth quarter."

"This was a lot better than last year," Kipp added. "The experience we got this season will help us next year. Getting behind and coming back like we did showed a lot of character. But every mistake we made, they (Evanston) capitalized."