Defense carries Crystal Lake South to regional crown
Crystal Lake South will enjoy better offensive efforts.
In Friday night's Class 4A McHenry girls basketball regional final, the second-seeded Gators held third-seeded Prairie Ridge to 12 field goals and forced 23 turnovers in posting a 45-27 win.
The Gators (23-9), winners of 2 straight regional titles, will play Huntley in Tuesday's DeKalb sectional semifinal at 7:30 p.m.
"Prairie Ridge is very tall and athletic," said Crystal Lake South coach Mark Mucha. "We did a good job of denying the ball inside. We rotated our zone very well and contested shots. It was a very good defensive effort."
With the score tied at 6 after one quarter, the Gators seized control of the game in the second quarter.
With senior standout Chanel Fanter in foul trouble and held to 2 points in the first half, junior guard Taylor Jozefowicz stepped up and scored 10 points in the second quarter including a pair of 3-pointers.
Led by Jozefowicz, the Gators outscored PR (19-11) 14-5 in the second quarter and led 20-11 at halftime.
Energized by the intermission, Fanter connected on 5-of-6 shots in the third quarter for 10 points as the Gators extended a 9-point halftime lead to 17, 36-19, after 24 minutes.
With a 3-pointer from Alyssa Clark and 10-footer in the lane from Haylee Giffels, PR scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter to cut the Gator lead to 36-24 with 5:48 left in the game.
The Wolves couldn't get any closer.
South responded with an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 44-24, with 3:46 remaining.
Jozefowicz paced the Gators with 15 points.
"With Chanel struggling in the first half I knew I and the rest of team knew we had to step up," said Jozefowicz. "My shot was falling early and we were able to get the game more up-tempo in the second quarter. It is an undescribable feeling to win a second straight regional."
Fanter scored 13 points with 11 in the second half.
"I was own worst enemy in the first half," said Fanter. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in the second half. All our hard work paid off with a regional championship."
Annika Sevcik scored 7 points with 7 assists and 10 rebounds for the regional champs.
Giffels led PR with 9 while Clark scored 8 points.