Harvest Christian wins regional opener over Elgin Academy

Three minutes into its regional opener, Harvest Christian found itself trailing Elgin Academy 4-2.

But 13 minutes later, at halftime, the Lions held a comfortable 30-9 lead. From there they cruised to a 48-17 win and a spot in Tuesday's 6 p.m. semifinal against Aurora Christian in the Class 1A Harvest Christian regional.

Maddy Martin scored 20 points to lead the way for Harvest. Freshman Annika Learned added 14.

After giving up 2 quick layups, the Lions took the lead for good on a Learned 3-pointer. That ignited a 14-0 run to close the quarter. Harvest (16-7) outscored the visitors 14-5 in the second quarter and 12-2 in the third.

Harvest was closed Monday for some maintenance issues, throwing off the team's schedule a bit. But they found their rhythm early. Spot starter Learned gave the Lions a spark.

"We had one of our starters out sick, and she came out and had no problem firing away," said Harvest coach Jeremy Burke. "She made a few, that got her in rhythm, and she did a good job."

Lauren Semerau scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Alex Shepherd pulled down 16 rebounds for the Lions, who dominated the backboards 41-25.

Defensively, the Lions held the Hilltoppers to 15% shooting and forced 28 turnovers, 20 in the first half. Abigail Semerau caused most of the havoc defensively, garnering 8 steals.

Maddy Noble-Stas led Elgin Academy with 6 points and 5 rebounds.