Girls basketball: Lake Park overcomes Wheaton North for regional title
Friday's Class 4A Lake Park girls basketball regional final between DuKane Conference foes Wheaton North and the host Lancers was the third matchup of the season between both teams with Lake Park having won both DKC contests en route to the league title.
The seventh-seeded Falcons battled Lake Park for the game's first three periods. But by putting together a dominant fourth quarter, the Lancers earned a 40-23 victory on their home court to capture the program's second straight regional crown and 11th in school history.
Second-seeded Lake Park (28-5) advances to face No. 3 St. Charles East (20-11) in Tuesday's second Bartlett sectional semifinal.
“Wheaton North, they know us. They play hard. They're well-coached. They know what we're going to do,” said Lancers coach Bobby Reibel.
“Their record at the beginning of their season wasn't who they were. They came out and executed in the first half of the game and we had to respond.”
After the Falcons (11-21) took their final lead of the contest on a triple from junior guard Adeline Sutton to go up 20-19 with 78 seconds remaining in the third, a layup by senior forward Alex Kiefer just 15 ticks later put the DuKane champion Lancers ahead at 21-20.
After a Caitlyn Mikes three gave Lake Park a 24-20 advantage into the fourth, senior Maggie Frank took over the game after a free throw by North junior guard Brea Moore closed the gap to 24-21.
Frank scored 7 of her game-high 12 as Lake Park went on a 9-0 tear and outscored the Falcons 16-2 the rest of the way. The Falcons shot 1 of 11 from the floor with only a Moore bucket with 3:21 left accounting for their only scoring.
“Honestly, we just really came together as a team,” said Frank, who also snared 7 rebounds.
“Everyone can look at points, certain stats, but we pulled it together when we weren't shooting good, when we were a little off defensively. We just came together and got the win.”
Kiefer, an Illinois State softball signee, added 11 points and 6 rebounds while senior guard Allie Gogola chipped in 7 points and 7 rebounds.
Moore's 11 paced the scoring for North followed by Sutton's 8.
“They're an elite basketball team and we had to expend so much energy just taking care of the basketball and working the offense,” said Wheaton North coach Tyler Bantz.
“Obviously we did a great job for three quarters and in the fourth we got a little tired and it kind of just grew from there. That's just the way it is with a team as good as they are.”