Geneva loses heartbreaker at shootout
SPRINGFIELD -- The marquee game at the Illinois Basketball Services Girls Prep Classic between the Springfield High Senators, the No. 2 team in The Associated Press Class 3A state poll, and the Geneva Vikings, the No. 10 team in Class 4A, lived up to the hype Saturday.
Everyone held their breath as time was running out and Geneva senior guard Kat Yelle drove the lane at Lincoln Land Community College's Cass Gymnasium. The Ohio University-bound Yelle missed the potential game-winning layup with 4 seconds left and Springfield senior Kasi Korza grabbed the rebound, sealing a 66-65 win for the Senators.
“It was nerve-racking because I didn't know if it was going to go in or out,” Korza said. “She had made those shots all night. I thought it was going to go in. Then it rolled out.”
Springfield coach Brad Scheffler was also surprised Yelle's shot didn't drop.
“(Yelle) got in there and she just missed,” he said. “That was nice to see because she made them all the rest of the game.”
The Senators (9-1) beat Geneva (6-3) with the help of a controversial call. Geneva freshman Ashley Santos sank a long jump shot with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Santos hit what the Geneva fans and assistant coach Tim Pease thought was a game-tying 3-pointer. However, an official ruled it a 2-pointer and the Vikings trailed 66-65.
“I thought she was behind the red line, but obviously they were a lot closer to it than I was,” said Pease, who is handling coaching duties for coach Gina Nolan as she recovers from breast cancer.
After Santos pulled Geneva within a point, Springfield squandered a chance to keep the Vikings from attempting a game-winning shot. The Senators turned the ball over out of bounds near midcourt and Geneva regained possession of the ball with 18.3 seconds left.
Turnovers early in the fourth quarter cost Springfield an 11-point lead. Amber Cason's jump shot put the Senators up 60-49 at the 4:23 mark. A steal at midcourt by Yelle set up Santos' jumper that pulled the Vikings within 66-63 with 51 seconds to go.
“That start of the fourth quarter, we took control and (Zahna Medley) did that by getting to the basket,” Scheffler said. “We made some nice passes to Amber, Meghan (Fetter) and Kasi inside. It was good team ball at the start of the fourth quarter for about four or five minutes. There at the end we didn't take care of it. The guards started turning it over. We just got really rushed. That's the first time this year that has happened.”
Medley led all scorers with 28 points. Korza added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Yelle, who surpassed the 1,000th point of her career in an 82-18 win over Elgin on Friday, poured in a team-high 25 points for Geneva. Santos, a member of the Puerto Rico Junior National Team, contributed 24.
“This team by position had us with size,” Pease said. “We had to do a lot of things to help and recover our teammates and we were real happy with the effort that we showed. Coupled with that we were even more happy being down late and the kids showed an extreme amount of heart to come back and keep fighting.”