Crystal Lake South turns the tables on Cary-Grove
What a difference 24 days can make.
On Jan. 23, Cary-Grove crushed host Crystal Lake South 51-29 in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls basketball action.
Entering Tuesday night's Class 4A McHenry regional semifinal game against Cary-Grove, South was determined to avenge that lopsided loss.
Mission accomplished.
Paced by 21 points from Saint Xavier recruit Chanel Fanter, the second-seeded Gators got revenge with a 47-33 victory over the seventh-seeded Trojans.
The Gators (22-9) will play Prairie Ridge for the regional title Friday at 7 p.m. The third-seeded Wolves defeated McHenry 46-42 in Tuesday's second game.
Cary-Grove, which won 8 of its last 10 games, ended the season 12-17.
Fanter, who converted 11-of-13 from the free throw line, also dished out 4 assists.
"We wanted to learn from the last loss to Cary-Grove," said Fanter. "We were determined to come out strong and we played much better defense on this game. We have a lot of talented girls on this team. If we work together we can beat a lot of teams. Looking forward to playing in the regional championship on Friday night."
Crystal Lake South coach Mark Mucha was confident his team would give a good effort.
"We really struggled defensively the last time we played Cary-Grove," said Mucha. "Our defensive rotations weren't good. We looked at film on that game and made the adjustments. These girls do a good job of bouncing back from losses and they were prepared tonight. I was confident we would play well tonight. Our defensive pressure was very good."
The key play in the first 16 minutes for the Gators was Taylor Jozefowicz's 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer to give South a 24-16 halftime lead.
Cary-Grove, which made only 6-of-25 shots for 24 percent and 1-of-10 from 3-point range for 10 percent in the first half, climbed within 4 of the Gators, 27-23 on a layup by Olivia Miller with 5:48 left in the third quarter.
Cary-Grove couldn't get any closer. The Gators' biggest lead was 45-27 after a putback by Annika Sevcik with 1:22 remaining. Sevcik backed Fanter with 14 points.
Jen Pilut led Cary-Grove with 12 points.
"Our shot selection was good all night," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. "We just couldn't make shots. We were 4-15 and these girls didn't quit. I feel bad for the six seniors. I have coached a lot of them since kindergarten."