Richwoods (24-11) had ended Hillcrest\u2019s season at this point a year ago, and the Hawks had said they were on a mission to beat the Knights.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just very proud that they got back to the Elite Eight,\u2019\u2019 Richwoods coach Todd Hursey said about his players. \u201cVery proud of the kids to get to this level.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Richwoods fell behind 6-0 but rallied on the strength of a jumper by Elise Tamplin and 3-pointer from Maggie Cunningham. The score was tied at 11 at the end of eight minutes.<\/p>\n
The second quarter belonged to Richwoods. Cunningham opened with a 3, and Mariah Smith (game-high 13 points) added a layup as Richwoods led by five and was ahead 27-24 at the break. In the period, Cunningham scored seven of her 10.<\/p>\n
But the Hawks (27-3) came out flying in the third quarter. Hillcrest went on a 10-point run to start the period, and Richwoods was scrambling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came out flat (in) the third quarter,\u2019\u2019 Hursey said. \u201cI was proud of them. We had three starters on the bench with fouls, but we took care of business in the second quarter and we went in with that lead and I told them at halftime, \u2018You\u2019ve got to believe.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much they really believed they could do, though, and they went out forced some shots and threw the ball away and (Hillcrest) went back on their run again.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The Knights still had some fight left, however.<\/p>\n
After getting down 39-29, Richwoods went on a 10-point run of its own through the end of the third quarter and into the start of the fourth. Katie Murphy scored six of her 12 in that stretch and had 10 points in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoy, Katie made some nice post moves down low,\u2019\u2019 Hursey said.<\/p>\n
By the end of that run, the score was tied at 39 with 6:40 to play. But Jacquenae Foster ended the streak with a 3, Samirah Ali hit two free throws, Yolanda De La Torre added a putback and Hillcrest had a lead it never relinquished.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt halftime … it was 27-24, and it was just the opposite last year \u2014 we were up 24-21,\u2019\u2019 Hillcrest coach John Maniatis said. \u201cI told our kids, \u2018We have 16 minutes. It\u2019s about choices. What choice to we want to make out there that\u2019s going to get us to where we want to be?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the kids played lights out that first three minutes (of the second half) and that changed the whole complexion of the ballgame. And you know something? They wanted to fulfill that date with destiny.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Uniquah Hampton led Hillcrest in scoring, with 13 points. Shannise Heady scored nine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew going in that 60 points would win this ballgame,\u2019\u2019 said Maniatis. \u201cWe didn\u2019t get there, but we came pretty close. I thought our kids did a tremendous job on the Murphy girl, who destroyed us inside last year.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The game was the last in a Richwoods uniform for Murphy, a player Hursey said he almost considers a daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wish Katie was a junior,\u2019\u2019 Hursey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy and pleased with the year that we had but very disappointed that it\u2019s over. We\u2019re not ready to put the basketballs away. This team was not ready for it to end.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Jane Miller can be reached at 686-3207 or jmiller@pjstar.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n Read the original article from Journal Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n All year long, the Richwoods girls basketball team battled tough opponents. But Monday night in the Class 3A Streator Supersectional, the Knights found one they couldn\u2019t break. Country Club Hills Hillcrest fulfilled its mission to reach the Final Four, with a 55-47 victory over the defending 3A state champions. Richwoods (24-11) had ended Hillcrest\u2019s season […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
\n<\/img><\/a><\/p>\n
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"