Late scoring drought finishes off Larkin

Offense has been Larkin's Achilles' heel all season.

In the South Elgin regional opener, it haunted them yet again.

A valiant effort defensively wasn't quite enough to overcome DeKalb, which ended the Royals' season with a 43-30 win Monday night.

Holding the Barbs to single-digit scoring in each of the first three quarters, Larkin trailed just 23-20 going into the final eight minutes of the game.

With a team-high 12 points, Nadiyah Spencer kept the Royals in contention early.

"I was trying to take advantage of my skill, which is speed," Spencer said. "I was looking for openings, and breaking through."

With 4:24 remaining in the third quarter, Spencer earned a pair of trips to the foul line, converting on 3 of 4, and followed with a layup. Her 5 unanswered points pulled Larkin within 2 at 22-20.

"Nadiyah played a great game," said Larkin coach Amy Silverman. "We wanted to attack the basket. Nadiyah was the only one successfully making the cuts."

Prior to the fourth quarter, Larkin was able to compensate for a lack of offense behind a solid 2-3 defense.

Jessica Harris was a major factor finishing the game with half a dozen rebounds, a pair of blocks and 5 steals. En route to 8 points, Harris also added 2 assists.

"Jessica has been our defensive MVP all season," Silverman said. "She has played solid defense night in and night out. She's always by the ball."

Larkin unquestionably missed the presence of starter Leah Rybakowski who spent the entire night on the sidelines with a stomach flu.

In her absence, Corinne Wimmer and Maggie Koch made their varsity debuts.

"Wimmer did a really nice job for us," said Silverman. "She was a scrapper out there, and if she was nervous, I didn't see it.

"I was impressed with her. Maggie did a great job too."

Harris got into foul trouble in the fourth quarter, and the Barbs capitalized with an 8-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night at 31-20 with 5 minutes left to play. Spencer stopped the bleeding with a breakaway layup, but DeKalb answered with back-to-back buckets resulting in a 35-22 lead which quickly became a 40-26 advantage following a late 5-0 stint.

Kelli Gerance matched Spencer with 12 points, scoring 4 times via putback.

"DeKalb outscored us 20-10 in the fourth quarter, and that was the game," said Silverman. "We played three excellent quarters, but we fell apart in the end."

Tatiana Holbert took advantage of her starter status collecting 4 points and 5 rebounds for the Royals while Gina Leach (5 rebounds, 2 steals) also added 4 points.

"It's been a long season," Silverman said. "We had alot of personality on this team, a lot of character and everybody worked hard."

Michelle Todd led DeKalb on the boards with 8 rebounds. Emily Murphy scored 10 points, and Ali Ford added 9 connecting three times from long distance.