Girls basketball: Rolling Meadows’ Cinderella run ends with loss to Loyola; Mustangs finish fourth
No one expected Rolling Meadows' girls basketball team to be playing in the Final Four of the Class 4A girls basketball tournament. And when the Cinderella run finally ended in Normal late Friday afternoon, it took the No. 1-ranked 4A team to do it.
Making its third straight appearance on the CEFCU Arena floor at Illinois State University, Loyola grabbed an 8-0 lead and never looked back in winning its 25th straight game, a 46-33 triumph over the Mustangs who were in striking range for most of the 32 minutes.
“Loyola is a tremendous team,” said Rolling Meadows coach Ryan Kirkorsky. “And I felt battled throughout.”
The girls from Wilmette (33-2) will face No. 2 Nazareth (34-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday, looking for their second title in three seasons under 17-year coach Jeremy Schoenecker.
Rolling Meadows lost 43-30 to Belleville East on Friday night in the third-place game.
“Even though we lost our first game, I am extremely proud of this team and how far we have come,” said Rolling Meadows senior point guard Lizzy Andriano, who played her final high school game Friday night with her sisters (junior Anna and freshman Kate) as teammates. “You don't get to experience this every day and I wouldn't want to do it with any other group of girls.”
Rolling Meadows senior Abby Ramel, who was an offensive juggernaut during the inspiring playoff run, pulled in a loose ball and went nearly coast to coast for a layup to get the Mustangs to within 8-6.
Rolling Meadows (22-11) trailed 10-6 after the first period but got to within 14-11 when junior Irish Jordan drilled a 17-footer with 5:35 left in the second half.
However, Loyola went on an 8-2 run and led 22-16 at half.
Rolling Meadows senior Nell Osterhues (5 points, 3 steals) tossed home a 25-foot 3-pointer with 5:31 left in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 24-19, and moments later Ramel hit a 17-footer from behind the free-throw line to make it 26-21.
But that's as close as the Mustangs could get.
Senior Marycait Mackie's baseline 3-pointer just before the third-quarter buzzer put the Ramblers in front 33-23 and Rolling Meadows never got inside double digits again.
Junior Madison Locke led Loyola with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Mackie added 11 points and 3 rebounds. Leading scorer Emily Naraky, a junior, had 9 points and 6 rebounds.
The Ramblers held the Mustangs to their fewest points during the playoff run, which incredibly saw Rolling Meadows come back and defeat its last three opponents after losing to them by 23, 30 and 26 points.
“As a team, we always talk about defense so once we knew we could stop them, we just kept working on defense and knew we could steal this win because we've been in these situations before,” Locke told the IHSA broadcaster. “We were so close to this last year (fourth place) that it just made us want it more as a team. We've worked so hard all season. I'm just so excited for us.”
Ramel ended up with another stellar performance, scoring 19 of Rolling Meadows' 33 points, shooting 8-of-11 from the floor. She also grabbed 10 rebounds. Classmate and Eastern Illinois recruit Dalia Grandberry pulled down 6 rebounds.
Rolling Meadows was 3-of-5 at the free-throw line. Loyola converted 5-of-11.
“I am extremely proud of this group,” said Kirkorsky, who brought his third team to Normal. “We came together as a team and left everything on the floor.”