Crystal Lake South ready for challenge
The Crystal Lake South girls basketball program has never won a sectional championship.
So while the Gators are happy to be in the position they're in Thursday night, they are by no means satisfied.
"Everything from here is just fun and you have to take it all in, and we've been saying that since we won the regional," said eighth-year South coach Kyle McCaughn. "There's not many teams left in the state and there's only a couple teams in our school's history that have made it this far, and our kids are starting to realize that."
The 26-4 Gators, who have set a school record for wins, won a conference title and the program's first regional since 1993, battle 31-1 Rockford Boylan at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the Class 4A Jacobs sectional crown in the Sweet Sixteen round of the state tournament. The winner will play the winner of the Barrington sectional -Wheeling or Lake Zurich- in Monday's supersectional at Elgin Community College.
Boylan will be the Gators' toughest test of the season. The Titans bring a deep and experienced team to the championship game, one that has lost this season only to Class 3A sectional finalist and NIC-10 rival Freeport.
"Up and down the line they have athlete after athlete," said McCaughn of the Titans, who are coached by Schaumburg graduate Kim Connell. "They have their strengths at every position. We haven't found a weakness in them yet. Hopefully we will Thursday night."
The Titans, coached by Schaumburg grad Kim Connell, are led by returning senior starters Maria Luedke, Devin Mack, Kierra Valentine and Deborah Hilby, but also have four talented sophomores in Brea Edwards, Kelsey Cooling, Suzie Broski and Maloree Johnson. Edwards scored 23 points to lead Boylan past Huntley 65-42 in Monday's semifinal. Boylan has scored 65 or more points 22 times this season.
McCaughn says that as talented as Boylan is, this isn't the time for his team to make any major adjustments.
"There's not much you can change in a couple of days," he said. "We'll go with what got us here. We'll go with who we are and what we are."
What that is is a team that thrives on defensive pressure and uses its size to command the glass. The Gators allow an average of just 38 points per game and they score an average of 50.
Senior point guard Carly Juliano, the team's top defender, scored 13 points to lead South past St. Charles East 51-38 in Monday's semifinal. Senior Caitlin Mize had 9 points and 7 rebounds and junior Katie Burton 8 points and 9 boards. Burton leads the balanced team in scoring at 10.7 points per game, Mize scores 10.5 and averages 6 rebounds and junior Michelle Gaede averages 9.7 points.
"I wouldn't sell us short," McCaughn said. "We're going to come in there with everything we've got."