Elgin Academy puts up a good fight
It wasn't as much about winning or losing for the Elgin Academy girls basketball team Thursday night as it was about just being there.
The Hilltoppers knew the task was daunting, yet they never gave up and played hard until the bitter end.
But the end it is for the Academy's basketball team, which lost 62-35 to defending state champ and No. 2 ranked Hinckley-Big Rock in the championship game of the Class 1A Mooseheart sectional.
The advancement to a sectional final is the furthest any Elgin Academy sports team has gone in an IHSA state tournament.
"This team cannot be compared to any team I've coached before. This team has a lot of heart," Elgin Academy coach Vincente Pena stated. "We came out throwing punches in the first quarter and the girls did a really great job, but we just played a really good team and we can't take anything from them."
Hinckley-Big Rock (30-2), which won its fourth sectional championship, will take on Stockton at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Judson University supersectional hosted by Westminster Christian. The winner advances to next weekend's Final Four at Redbird Arena in Normal.
The Hilltoppers (14-10) stepped on the floor shooting lights out to start the game, as they connected on all 5 shot attempts in the first quarter. The Royals, however, limited Elgin Academy's offensive opportunities for the rest of the half as they applied a full-court trapping defense that led to 17 first-half turnovers by the Hilltoppers.
Heading into halftime down 36-15, the Hilltoppers could have thrown in the towel, but instead came out with a spark of energy, scoring on their first two possessions.
"We tend to not look at the scoreboard," said Elgin Academy senior Lauren Steimle. "We just go out and try to win every quarter and if we lose one quarter then we just go into a new one and start fresh from there."
Although they came out fighting, the Hilltoppers could not stop the Royals' Tess Godhardt as she scored 9 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter as Hinckley-Big Rock went on a 12-0 run to put the game well out of reach. The Royals took advantage of their size inside as they outrebounded the Hilltoppers 23-9.
Alyssa Pena, who sat out most of the first half with foul trouble, took the scoring into her own hands in the fourth as she scored 3 out of her 9 points for Academy.
"I just went out there and told myself that I'm going to drive," Pena stated. "I didn't care if I was going to get blocked, I just wanted to try and create scoring opportunities for my team."
Even though the Hilltoppers did not come out on top, they proved that they could battle with the best until the end and not give up.
Steimle joined Pena with a team-high 9 points.
"That's all I wanted was for our girls to battle and just leave everything on the court," said coach Pena. "To bring our team from losing for so long and just win a regional championship, the girls are excited about it, and it is not only amazing for them, but amazing for our school."