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Westminster Christian ousts Elgin Academy

The beauty of playoff season is that everyone get a fresh slate, a new chance to accomplish their goals.

And a rebirth seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for No. 7 Westminster Christian at the Christian Liberty Academy regional. The Warriors jumped out to a 25-8 halftime lead and cruised to a 50-16 victory over No. 10 Elgin Academy in the opening quarterfinal round of the IHSA girls' Class 1A playoffs.

Westminster Christian advances to play top-seeded Newark in a regional semifinal Tuesday night.

Senior guard Keely Freus led all scorers with 19 points and sophomore Kelly Bickhart added 13 for the Warriors (7-12). Elgin Academy, which wraps its season at 0-18, was led by Ariana Marchan's 9 points.

"My 3-pointers weren't falling early, so I started getting more aggressive in driving and penetrating," said Freus, who hit 8 of the 13 shots she took. "When I do that it tends to get my game going, and it did tonight. This is a good start for us. It gives us some momentum going into tomorrow night."

It was a good start to the game, too. The Warriors led 11-0 after one quarter and didn't allow the Hilltoppers a field goal until 3:25 remained in the first half, when a Marchan trey cut the Elgin Academy deficit to 17-6.

"This was a good game for us and we recorded some season highs," assessed Westminster Christian head coach Fred Versluys. "Forty-percent shooting, 43 percent from 3-point range and nine turnovers, which was just one over our season low. There's a tendency to get sloppy when you a get a big lead like we had tonight, but we didn't do that. So this was a good start to the playoffs for us."

The half ended with the Warriors on top 25-8, and then a 15-2 third quarter advantage lifted Westminster Christian to a 40-10 lead after 24 minutes, all but sealing the win.

"We're doing a bit of rebuilding - a lot of rebuilding, to be honest," said Elgin Academy coach Mike Carani. "We dug ourselves a hole early and we couldn't get out of it. But I'm really proud of these girls - they never stopped fighting. That's a testament to their character."

The Hilltoppers, who out-rebounded Westminster Christian 22-21, ended the game on a positive note, scoring six of the final eight points on baskets by Maddy Noble-Stas, Claire Noland, and Lauren Yost.

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