Burlington Central 49, Kaneland 48

In the sharp-edged world of girls basketball, Burlington Central's Jordan Maisto, who stands 5-foot-3, is more of a paring knife than a cleaver.

But small knives can also be daggers, and Maisto literally drove home that point when she dribbled into the lane with her team behind by 1 point and with just 10 seconds to play in Wednesday's Class 3A Kaneland regional semifinal against the home Knights.

Maisto was fouled, hit both free throws, then endured a nervy 5.7 seconds as Kaneland attempted a last-second shot, which missed and gave the Rockets the 49-48 victory.

There are times when the actions of the shortest player on court end up lifting everyone to see what comes next, and that final sequence proved to be just such a case for Maisto, who helped her team advance to tonight's championship game against Huntley.

"We were in the bonus, so I had to get fouled and then I was on the line," Maisto said. "I had to get fouled and then make the free throws."

Even if Maisto hadn't been fouled, the play was for the sophomore to continue to the basket, even to the point of taking a last-second shot. The scenario unfolded much sooner than that, however.

"I wanted to score, but I wanted to get fouled," Maisto said.

The Rockets (19-10) needed to keep their cool late in the game. Kaneland (10-16) twice made bids to put away the game. The first came at the end of the third quarter when a 7-point burst put the Knights ahead 42-36.

After Central rallied with a 9-point run of its own, Kaneland surged one last time with 6 unanswered points, giving them a 48-45 edge entering the final minute.

Central narrowed the gap to 1 point when Cory Bazany hit a layup with 50 seconds left. That basket provided the last of Bazany's game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds.

"The momentum was definitely shifting," Bazany said. "But we don't give up. I think that definitely showed a lot of accomplishment for our team."

Bazany scored throughout the contest, but her points down the stretch seemed to have greater impact.

"You know how you can just feel games?" Bazany asked. "It just felt good. It's a team sport and every single person contributed. We worked really well hitting open people in the second half."

Maisto scored 9 points for the Rockets, all in the second half. Melanie Laird spread 12 points across the four quarters.

Kaneland responded from the opening tip. The Knights jumped to a 13-4 lead and did not trail until midway through the third quarter.

"I'm proud of the girls," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "I thought the seniors led us. Even the seniors who didn't play were great leaders off the court. I know 10 wins doesn't sound like a lot. Last year we were 5-21, and that's a great improvement."

Even though they fell behind, the Knights rallied for that 42-36 edge heading into the fourth quarter. A baseline 3-pointer at the end of the quarter by Brianna Hurst kissed the backboard and dropped through the net to give Kaneland momentum heading into the final 8 minutes of play.

Lesley Winslow hit for 6 points in the fourth quarter, but she was the only Knights player to score in the quarter.

Winslow finished with 13 points. Hurst and Brittany Hankes added 10 points apiece. Kaneland's final play worked the ball up the right wing to Hankes, whose long-range 3-pointer at the buzzer went off the backboard and caromed to the court.

"We had two or three options," Colombe said. "We thought we had a pretty good shot. But it's a tough situation. We ran the play and we got the shot and we didn't hit it. But in the end, I'm really proud of every single girl on this team."

St. Joseph 50, St. Francis 32:ŒWith senior guard Catherine Culligan recently back from an extended absence and a zone defense that slowed St. Joseph for three quarters, things were looking up for St. Francis on Wednesday night.

But St. Joseph guard Karina Robinson put a quick end to the Spartans' hopes of advancing past the Chargers (15-13) in Class 3A girls basketball regional semifinal play in Wheaton. Robinson scored 7 straight points to open the fourth quarter and helped power St. Joseph to a 50-32 victory and a berth in the regional final against Montini.

The 12-15 Spartans actually led 20-16 late in the third quarter before St. Joseph scored the final 6 points for a 22-20. Robinson then opened the final quarter with a layup off a turnover, two free throws off a turnover and a 3-pointer. In all she tallied 13 of her game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter.

"We had a few turnovers and we missed a lot of free throws," said Spartans coach Leslie Fay-Dehn, whose team was 6 of 15 from the line. "Things weren't going our way, I guess, but our kids played hard."

Culligan had missed more than a month with mononucleosis before returning for limited minutes against Trinity Saturday. On Wednesday she entered the game with 5:31 left in the first quarter and St. Francis on top 3-2 following a three-point play from Shannon Phillips.

But on a night when points were hard to come by, Culligan finished with 2 points on 2-of-6 foul shooting. Junior Jamie Stefely paced the Spartans with 8 points and 9 rebounds, while Chrissy Belniak, Kelly Reinke and Phillips each added 5 points.

"We had a great group of seniors and it's going to be tough not having them, but we do have some strong players coming back," Fay-Dehn said.

-- Stan Goff

Glenbard South 59, Lindblom 28:ŒThe Raiders earned their 20th victory of the season at the Class 3A University High regional. Niah Jessie scored 10 points to top 12 Raiders who scored.

Boys basketball

Timothy Christian 64, Aurora Christian 49:ŒThe Trojans (15-12) advanced to Friday's Private School League tournament title game at Aurora Christian with their win in Elmhurst. Andrew Logan had 13 points, 6 steals and 6 assists, Vince Williams added 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Joel Sytsma pitched in with 11 points and 8 rebounds.

Wheaton Academy 75, Illiana Christian 65:ŒBen Euler eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in his varsity career by knocking down five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 29 points. The victory advances the Warriors (15-8) in the consolation bracket of the Private School League tournament. Timothy Rusthoven added 18 points and 8 blocked shots for Wheaton Academy, which will play for fifth place on Friday at Aurora Christian.

Women's basketball

Aurora 78, Concordia (IL) 60: The Spartans (13-10, 11-5) connected on 48 percent of their shots compared to Concordia's (13-8, 10-4) 31 percent. Megan Re scored 18 points and Kim Voiles and Ashley Daniels both scored 12. Voiles also grabbed 14 rebounds.