Schaumburg 74, Geneva 63
Schaumburg senior girls basketball player Gabrielle Blackwell received what she termed a "pep talk" at halftime from coach Bill Murmann in Thursday's Class 4A Bartlett regional title game against Geneva.
Whatever Murmann said in that chat should be bottled up for use in next week's Lake Park sectional.
Blackwell scored 10 of her team's first 12 second-half points en route to a career-high 32 points as the Saxons prevailed 74-63 to capture their third consecutive regional crown.
"Gabby, I thought she played very soft in the first half," Murmann said. "Her mentality in the second half was totally and completely different. She was outstanding. She really did well. I didn't think they had anybody in the post that could handle her."
The Saxons (27-5) were up 37-30 at the break, but Blackwell helped key an explosion to open the third.
For the third consecutive quarter, Schaumburg scored the first 8 points of the period, and opened a 45-30 lead. That edge stretched to 53-34 on a pair of Drewann Pancratz buckets later in the quarter.
The second-seeded Saxons also opened the first and second quarters with 8 straight points against the 10th-seeded Vikings (21-7).
"We like to get the ball rolling at the very beginning, especially coming out of the half," Blackwell said. "That is crucial to us. It kind of determines how we're going to play in the second half."
Saxons senior Kylie Castans (24 points, 11 rebounds) scored 6 of the first 8 points of the game before Geneva finally scored with 5:29 left in the first on Taylor Whitley's layup.
That was just the start of a 14-point, first-quarter flurry that ended with Whitley drilling a tough jumper at the buzzer to give Geneva an 18-15 lead after eight minutes.
"I'm proud of my kids," said Geneva coach Gina Nolan. "I thought we rose to the challenge and we contested them. Just the fact that we went down 8-0 and got up, that showed a lot of heart and character. It was a challenge, but I think for a lot of the game, we met that challenge."
Blackwell scored 8 of the Saxons' first 10 points of the second to give Schaumburg the lead for good. Some of the credit for holding that lead has to be given to a defensive adjustment on Whitley.
After torching the Saxons for 14 first-quarter points, she scored 13 the rest of the way after Schaumburg switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone.
"We knew in the first half that we didn't do what we wanted to against her man-to-man," Murmann said.
"What happened in the zone was she wasn't getting the same looks she was in the first half and we wanted other kids on her team to shoot the ball, not her."
Whitley still scored 27 points after tallying 30 Tuesday against Batavia. Lauren Wicinski added 15 and Kat Yelle 10.
Seeking their first-ever sectional title, the Saxons play the winner of tonight's Willowbrook regional in a sectional semifinal Tuesday at Lake Park.
"We have to continue to play as well as we're playing," Murmann said. "We have to be a little more mentally disciplined, take care of the ball a little better, and we'll be fine. We're playing Tuesday. That's what counts."