Girls basketball: St. Edward loses to Byron in Class 2A semifinals

Byron’s Brynn Green came up big against St. Edward’s Green Wave.

In the final minute of a tied game in Thursday afternoon’s second Class 2A girls basketball semifinal at CEFCU Arena in Normal, the Tigers senior guard stole a pass near midcourt and scored a layup.

Byron, which defeated St. Edward by 15 points in the teams’ final regular-season game on Feb. 12, hit four free throws down the stretch to seal the 49-43 victory and advance to Saturday’s championship game at noon against Breese Central, a 48-40 winner over Pleasant Plains in the first semifinal.

St. Edward (27-9) was scheduled to face Pleasant Plains (30-3) in the third-place game Thursday night.

A Final Four team in Class 1A a year ago, St. Edward played inspired basketball early, racing out to a 15-4 lead at the 5:51 mark of the second quarter behind junior guard Savannah Lynch’s 7-0 run at the start of the period.

But Byron (33-2) closed the second quarter on a 16-4 run. Tigers junior guard Aubrie Fuller — averaging 9.6 points per game — poured in 10 of her game-high-tying 21 points in the stretch, including a 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining in the half.

Byron led 20-19 at the break despite a scoreless half from its leading scorer, Macy Groharing.

“(St. Edward) did a great job defensively, holding us to four points in the first quarter,” Byron coach Eric Yerly told the IHSA TV Network before the start of the second half. “We kind of changed after that. We started playing downhill.

“We have four seniors out there who want to play (for the title) on Saturday,” he added.

Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson shared her halftime message to the team with the IHSA TV Network.

“We need to keep being aggressive, keep attacking in the middle of the zone,” she said.

St. Edward senior forward Sanaii McPherson (6 points, 5 rebounds) did just that in two early possessions, scoring a pair of baskets in the paint to give the Green Wave a 23-20 advantage at 6:41 of the third quarter.

Fuller and Groharing each hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter. Groharing’s 3 — her first 3 points of the game, with two seconds remaining — put the Tigers up 32-28 heading into the final quarter.

Byron led 37-32, 40-34 and 43-37 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t shake the resilient players from the Elgin school. Lynch scored 6 straight points to knot it at 43-43.

Green finished with 3 points and 2 steals, but none was bigger than the takeaway that sent Byron to the program’s fourth state title game under Yerly, a two-time state championship coach (2016, 2017) at the Ogle County school.

Groharing finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a game-high 6 steals, as Byron extended its winning streak to 21 games. Teammate Malia Morton, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored 14 points.

Junior forward Layne Dawson, one of coach Dawson’s two daughters (Layne’s twin, Taylor, is the other) on the team, scored 9 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Green Wave. Senior teammate Jordin Sauls (7 points) had 4 of the Green Wave’s 7 blocks.

St. Edward’s Lynch shot 6-of-11 from the field and made 8-of-9 free throws. She scored 10 of her team’s 15 points in the final eight minutes.