Kaneland's furious finish topples Burlington Central

Sometimes it's how you finish that matters.

The Kaneland girls team saved its best basketball for the closing minutes, Saturday night in a 46-40 victory over Burlington Central in Maple Park.

In a game that was defined by turnovers and missed opportunities, the Knights overcame some inconsistent play and put together several solid minutes of basketball when it mattered most.

Kaneland (9-10) trailed 37-32 when Burlington Central decided to slow the game down with just over 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

"That helped us out a little bit," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. "We finally pieced it together tonight, and we were clutch at the end."

The Knights got on a roll, as Kelly Evers scored 5 points in 39 seconds closing the gap to 40-38 with just under a minute to go.

"My teammates helped me out so much tonight," Evers said. "I've been so sick of losing, and we as a team were determined to win this game. This win is definitely a confidence booster."

After a Burlington Central turnover, Emma Bradford sank 2 free throws to tie the game with 34.7 seconds showing on the clock.

"We hit our free throws, and defensively, we did our job in the last couple minutes," Colombe said. "The girls really wanted it down the stretch."

Another Burlington Central turnover led to two made free throws for Emily Heimerdinger. Tesa Alderman then added 2 of her own with 14.6 left, to give the Knights a 44-40 lead.

Heimerdinger, who lead all scorers with 15 points, capped the win with a steal and breakaway layup in the closing seconds.

"I could see that we were all confident that we could come back in this game," Heimerdinger said.

Kaneland came out strong and set the tone in the opening quarter despite losing forward Andie Strang to early foul trouble.

"That's something we don't want, obviously, but the kids really stepped up," Colombe said.

The Knights led 13-10 after one quarter, but their offense hit a wall, and Alli Settanni started heating up for the Rockets in the second.

"She's put a lot of work into her game and has grown tremendously," Burlington Central coach Stephanie Smith said.

As the Knights continued to struggle, and both teams battled to hold on to a ball that just wouldn't stay put, the turnovers began to mount for both sides, and the Rockets scrambled to a 31-28 lead after three quarters.

"We started playing better defense and that fueled our offense," Smith said. "We were team basketball. When we do that we can play with anybody, and we're tough to beat."

The fourth quarter began with a steal and layup by Kaneland's Tesa Alderman (12 points). It proved to be a sign of things to come, but Burlington Central recovered, and opened a 5 point lead, before Kaneland took charge and scored 14 of the game's final 17 points.

"This is a team that won just five games last season," Colombe said. "This was a great team effort, and we're really happy wit the way the girls are progressing."

Settanni led Burlington Central (9-10) with 13 points.