Kaneland goes cold in sectional final
Someone was winning their first sectional crown since 1990 when Kaneland and Dixon faced off in the Class 3A Sycamore Sectional title game.
It’s the Duchesses and their stingy defense that are advancing to the final eight.
Freshman Ahmyrie McGowan powered the offense early and Dixon stymied Kaneland standout Kendra Brown all night in a 45-36 win.
“It’s amazing. We had a goal and we knew what we wanted,” said McGowan, who finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds and five steals. “We got to it, and we’re excited and happy.”
No.. 3 Dixon (27-6) will face No. 1 Lincoln (35-0), the East Peoria Sectional winner, at 7 p.m. Monday in LaSalle-Peru for a trip to state.
Dixon scored 13 of the first 15 points in the contest, including six by McGowan. After that, Kaneland (25-10) never got within seven again.
“It’s just so amazing,” Dixon coach Luke Ravlin said. “I’m so proud of these kids and proud of our program. It’s taken a lot of people putting in a lot of hard work, all the players we’ve had over the years, all the coaches, all of that and it just feels amazing.”
Dixon led 28-15 at the break behind 10 points and 11 rebounds from McGowan in the first half alone. McGowan’s only bucket of the second half came on a layup off her own steal, pushing the lead for the Duchesses to 15 for the first time with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
But the Knights rolled off a 12-4 run to cut the Dixon lead to 38-31 with 2:57 left. Sam Kerry had the last four of that run and finished with a team-high 12.
Dixon didn’t score another field - their last bucket was a layup by Hallie Williamson with 4:03 left right before the mini 6-0 Kaneland run - but did enough at the line and on defense to secure the win.
Neither team had won a sectional since 1990. Dixon won its first regional since 2003 and now is looking for its first state trip since 1982 according to IHSA archives.
“I’m really proud of this team and how far we’ve come, but we’re not done yet,” said Williamson, who had a game-high 13 points along with seven rebounds. “Hopefully we can make it to state but you never know. We’re not done.”
Dixon limited Brown, the Knights’ leading scorer, to five points on 1-of-13 shooting, her only field goal a 3-pointer with 12.1 seconds left that cut the lead to 43-36. Sam Kerry scored 12 to lead the Knights, Alexis Schueler had 11 and Brown had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said teams have been focusing on Brown all postseason, and Ravlin said that was the Duchesses’ plan as well.
“Every game of the playoffs every team was focusing on her,” Claesson said. “It is what it is. We had other girls step up throughout the playoffs. Lexi and Sam I thought played awesome tonight. It’s a tough game, someone had to lose and it just happened to be us.”
Claesson said it was a great year for the Knights, who beat rival Sycamore to reach the title game and had a chance to win the Interstate 8 title, losing a winner-take-all contest to the Spartans in early February.
“I just told them it was the most fun I’ve ever had coaching,” Claesson said. “It’s just such a great group of girls. The seniors are girls who just embody what our program culture is. It stings this is their last game but I’m so proud of them.”