West Chicago’s Monroe wins 4A title

NORMAL — Claire Monroe burned a long, winding path to Redbird Arena.

Now she could be the IHSA’s Queen of the Hill.

The West Chicago junior hit 10 of 15 3-pointers to win the Class 4A 3-point showdown Friday night.

Monroe, who hit more than 40 percent of her 3-point attempts this season, was beaten out in practice. But teammate Jordan Nickelson relinquished her spot, and Monroe won a shootout to compete.

At sectionals she weathered a double tiebreaking shootout to advance, and she did the same in Thursday’s preliminary round in Normal.

Friday, though, Monroe was the first shooter and set the bar where no opponent could match it. Naperville Central’s Emma Ondik, who had the best round of 12 in Thursday’s prelims, made 5. Marian Catholic’s Jasmine Matthews, the last shooter Friday, made 8.

“I was still nervous,” Monroe said, “because those other girls still had to shoot and they were capable of beating me. I wasn’t sure if 10 would be enough.”

Monroe will shoot against the winners of Class 1A-3A in today’s Queen of the Hill competition at 1:30 p.m.

“(The shootout) is really different,” Monroe said, “because you are out there by yourself and everyone’s eyes are on you. There’s a time limit so you’re thinking about that, trying to get in as many as you can.”