Aurora Christian snares 1A regional crown
Despite not having a senior in its starting lineup, Aurora Christian's girls basketball team is enjoying one of its best seasons in school history.
Sophomore guard Tori Henning matched a career-high with 29 points and added 6 steals while leading the Eagles (20-8) to a 69-43 Class 1A regional championship victory over Somonauk (11-17) Friday night in Aurora.
While capturing their fourth regional title in 5 seasons, the Eagles matched their single-season all-time mark for wins (20) set in 2014-15.
"It's a great feeling getting it this year," said Eagles coach Burney Wilkie, whose team lost to Peru St. Bede in the 2A regional semifinals last season, "and it's a whole new group of girls pretty much. One girl _ junior Paris Chaney - played on the last team that won a regional (2015)."
Dialing up their full-court pressure defense, the Eagles forced 13 first-quarter turnovers with 12 steals while grabbing a 23-10 lead.
After Somonauk's Madison Bell (14 points) canned a 3-pointer to pull the Bobcats within 9-8, the Eagles went on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to double digits.
Henning tallied 7 points during the early surge while junior teammate Alex Fry (12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals) added a 3-pointer.
"We kind of stunk offensively to begin with so we needed that pressure to kind of jump-start us," said Wilkie. "We want to play tempo basketball. When we're running, we're at our very best."
Aurora Christian upped its lead to 41-25 at halftime, forcing 19 first-half turnovers while accumulating 17 steals.
Henning already had 17 points, 4 steals and a pair of assists at the intermission.
"That's the thing we put at the top of our scouting report - to push the ball and play our game which is running with it every time we get the chance," said Henning.
Somonauk, playing without injured 1,000-point career scorer Madison Kawall, trimmed the margin to 13 at 45-32 midway through the third quarter before the Eagles closed out the period with a 15-0 run to extend their lead to 60-32.
Henning began the tear with a 3-point play and scored 7 points over the final 1:18, including a 3-pointer from well beyond the line.
"We really slammed the door at the end of the third quarter," said Wilkie. "Tori attacks the basket so well."
"That's how I like to play the game," added Henning.
Paris Chaney contributed 12 points and 4 steals while junior forward Megan Hart finished with 7 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals for the Eagles, who advance to Tuesday's Serena sectional semifinals against the state's No. 2 ranked team, Ashton-Franklin Center (25-2).
"I think our young girls might not be smart enough to know they're not supposed to play with this team on Tuesday night," said Wilkie. "That's the plan. We've got nothing to lose at this point.
"This group is ahead of schedule. They weren't supposed to win a regional. They weren't supposed to win 20 games. We're playing with house money now."