Geneva battles back for title
A fiery Sarah Meadows, a fired-up group of underclassmen plus sophomore Morgan Seberger who was simply on fire ignited Geneva's second-half comeback in a 55-45 victory Thursday over Elk Grove in the Class 4A Geneva regional championship game.
The seventh-seeded Grenadiers (14-14) were poised to play spoiler against No. 2 seed Geneva (24-5), heading to halftime with a 24-19 lead on Kelly Naughton's buzzer-beating 3.
When told her players credited her for lighting into them at halftime, Meadows quipped, "They needed it."
"The first half was awful," Meadows said. "The halftime was thank goodness there is four quarters and two halves of basketball because that one is over. But Elk Grove is a nice team. We clearly struggled against them in the first half."
Elk Grove coach Ryan Kirkorsky brought boys into practice Wednesday to ready his team for Geneva's pressure. After the Grenadiers fell behind 12-6 on consecutive layups off steals by Rachel Hinchman and Sami Pawlak, Elk Grove settled down and held Geneva scoreless for the final 3:45 of the opening quarter.
The Grenadiers caught a break when Hinchman went to the bench early in the second quarter with her third foul but Elk Grove later would have even worse foul problems. Without their senior guard Geneva's 16-11 lead turned into a 5-point halftime deficit as the Vikings turned the ball over 10 times in the second quarter much to the disappointment of their first-year coach.
"Meadows said we are not playing the way we should be playing," Pawlak said. "We could not stay in that funk. She pumps us up. She does not like to lose at all. She is very motivating."
Abby Novak concurred.
"She (Meadows) just said how they (Elk Grove) came cheering off the court and made us get mad," Novak said. "We wanted to come back and make them get mad, get frustrated."
Seberger opened the second half with a 3 on Geneva's first third-quarter possession, the first of her 17 second-half points.
She also came up with a steal moments later and fed Stevie Fanale who was fouled while sinking a jumper for a 32-27 lead.
On the Vikings' next trip Seberger was fouled shooting a 3, and she made all 3 of those free throws plus 2 more free throws when Elk Grove coach Ryan Kirkorsky was whistled for a technical. That 5-point possession suddenly gave Geneva a 10-point lead.
"I thought the foul was after the (3-point) shot," Kirkorsky said. "I apologized to my kids. It's a close game, it's a regional final, I can't get a technical at that point."
Naughton scored the final four points of the third quarter, including one highlight real fastbreak when she stole the ball, dribbled behind her back and broke free, to bring Elk Grove within 37-31 going to the fourth quarter.
Both teams lost star players early in the final quarter. Diamond Boyd, who had 8 points at halftime but spent nearly all of the second half on the bench, fouled out with 6:44 left trying to draw a charge on Pawlak. Less than a minute later Hinchman picked up her fifth foul on a charge.
Elk Grove's Melissa Solorio also fouled out as the teams combined to shoot 53 free throws.
"We have a short bench and we get in foul trouble and that's when we have problems," Kirkorsky said. "Obviously you don't have control over that. You can't blame it on that. Geneva's pressure is relentless. I thought we handled it for a half but you have to do it for four quarters."
Another steal and layup by Naughton got Elk Grove as close as 39-37 in the fourth quarter before Novak scored consecutive baskets and assisted Fanale for another to give the Vikings a 45-38 cushion.
Novak, a freshman called up eight games ago after Geneva lost Ashley Santos for the season, continued to give the team a big lift with 7 points, 6 rebounds and active hands on defense.
"I was just so nervous coming into this," Novak said. "We all came together as a team and played."
Elk Grove pulled within 50-45 but Seberger finished an 11-of-13 night at the line by making 5 of 6 in the final minute. The rest of her teammates were just 5 of 17.
"We practice so much free throws, free throws," Seberger said. "Just focus and just make it."
After scoring 14 points in Tuesday's semifinal win, Seberger again led Geneva with 20. Pawlak added 15 points and 10 rebounds while Michaela Loebel had 5 of her team's 14 steals.
Now with four straight regional titles, the Vikings will play third-seed Wheaton Warrenville South (27-3) at 8:10 p.m. Monday in the Hoffman Estates sectional. Geneva, who also has won three straight sectionals, defeated the Tigers 65-58 on Dec. 17.
"I want to keep going," Meadows said. "I have some higher goals. We're meeting those goals but we want to keep going."
Naughton led Elk Grove with 11 points and Boyd scored 10.
"The kids battled, I just wish we could have executed what we wanted to do for four quarters," said Kirkorsky, whose team will return all five starters in 2012-13.