H-BR Claims Second Straight Championship Behind Stifling Defensive Effort
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
“D” For Two
At Redbird Arena, Normal
Class 1A Championship
Hinckley-Big Rock 38
Jacksonville Routt 32
H-BR (38) – Thorp 6-9 2-6 14,
Rossler 1-8 0-1 3, Godhardt
1-5 7-8 9, Phillips 2-5 1-2 5,
Meyer 1-4 3-4 5, Hollis 0-0 0-
0 0, Baunach 1-1 0-0 2,
Leifheit 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-
32 13-21 38.
Routt (32) – Eilering 0-10 1-2
1, Heimgartner 1-5 0-0 2,
Lindsey 3-10 2-2 8, Lonergan
5-12 1-3 15, Zenge 0-5 0-0 0,
Tonry 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 2-3 0-
0 4, Bystry 0-0 0-0 0, Arendt 0-
0 0-0 0, Gross 0-0 0-0 0,
Worrell 0-0 0-0 0, E. White 1-
8 0-0 2, Hungerford 0-0 0-0 0,
R. White 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-
54 4-7 32.
H-BR (33-2) 4 8 13 13 – 38
Routt (28-7) 7 5 10 10 – 32
3-point goals – H-BR 1-4
(Rossler); Routt 4-18
(Lonergan 4). Rebounds – H-
BR 38 (Godhardt 15); Routt
28 (Lindsey 9). Steals – H-
BR 6 (Thorp 2, Phillips 2);
Routt 5 (Lonergan 4). Blocks
H-BR 5 (Thorp 2, Godhardt 2);
Routt 2 (Lindsey, E. White).
Turnovers – H-BR 14; Routt
7. Total fouls (none fouled
out) – H-BR 8; Routt 13.
Class 1A Championship
Hinckley-Big Rock 38
Jacksonville Routt 32
H-BR (38) – Thorp 6-9 2-6 14,
Rossler 1-8 0-1 3, Godhardt
1-5 7-8 9, Phillips 2-5 1-2 5,
Meyer 1-4 3-4 5, Hollis 0-0 0-
0 0, Baunach 1-1 0-0 2,
Leifheit 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-
32 13-21 38.
Routt (32) – Eilering 0-10 1-2
1, Heimgartner 1-5 0-0 2,
Lindsey 3-10 2-2 8, Lonergan
5-12 1-3 15, Zenge 0-5 0-0 0,
Tonry 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 2-3 0-
0 4, Bystry 0-0 0-0 0, Arendt 0-
0 0-0 0, Gross 0-0 0-0 0,
Worrell 0-0 0-0 0, E. White 1-
8 0-0 2, Hungerford 0-0 0-0 0,
R. White 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-
54 4-7 32.
H-BR (33-2) 4 8 13 13 – 38
Routt (28-7) 7 5 10 10 – 32
3-point goals – H-BR 1-4
(Rossler); Routt 4-18
(Lonergan 4). Rebounds – H-
BR 38 (Godhardt 15); Routt
28 (Lindsey 9). Steals – H-
BR 6 (Thorp 2, Phillips 2);
Routt 5 (Lonergan 4). Blocks
H-BR 5 (Thorp 2, Godhardt 2);
Routt 2 (Lindsey, E. White).
Turnovers – H-BR 14; Routt
7. Total fouls (none fouled
out) – H-BR 8; Routt 13.
By Bill Lidinsky
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
NORMAL – With the clock reading just a scant 0.4 seconds to go, heartfelt tears
started to flow down the face of Hinckley-Big Rock head coach Greg Burks.
He warmly embraced his three senior starters upon their exiting the Class 1A State
Championship game Saturday at Redbird Arena in Normal, all the while with emotions
very hard to control. Just like in 2009, Burks’ tears were ones of pure joy as his Lady
Royals captured a second consecutive 1A crown behind a marvelous defensive effort
and a 38-32 victory over Jacksonville Routt.
H-BR (33-2) now becomes only the seventh school to go back-to-back with IHSA state
titles at Illinois State’s Redbird venue.
The Lady Royals collectively held Routt leading scorers Katie Lindsey and Morgan
Eilering to a combined nine points on the day as the pair registered only 3-of-20 field
goal attempts and three of four from the free throw line.
H-BR senior Jenna Thorp and junior Tess Godhardt were instrumental in stopping the
inside presence of Lindsey and Eilering. But it was the duo’s scoring and rebounding
that also bolstered the Lady Royal overall effort.
Thorp ended up with a team-leading 14 points and Godhardt hauled down a game high
15 rebounds.
Conversely, Thorp finished with nine rebounds, while Godhardt pitched in with nine
tallies as the Lady Royals held strong in a huge defensive battle to capture their much
coveted consecutive championship.
“I lost it on local television this year, but I’m so proud of these girls and emotions are
sometimes hard to hold back,” Burks said. “What you saw today was two outstanding
basketball teams on the floor. Sometimes you get a low score like that where neither
team can do much to get any offense going. But we held out in the end and played
great defensively. I can’t tell you what this second straight championship means to me.”
“We wanted to take Thorp and Godhardt out of the game. But give them both a lot of
credit because they were just fabulous today offensively and defensively,” said Routt
head coach Joe Eilering. “We just had a bunch of shots that didn’t go down today and
their overall defense in the championship game was huge. The pressure that they put
on us didn’t allow us any comfort with our inside game which all season has been very
strong. I’m proud of our girls and the effort we put forward, but Hinckley earned a very
tough championship today. It’s obvious that they’ve been here before and won it last
season. Hats off to them for a great effort once again.”
The game started off on an offensive snail’s pace. Senior Jes Meyer (five points), often
thought of as H-BR’s defensive specialist, hit the first shot of the game at the 6:20 to
put the Lady Royals up 2-0.
“I was actually very tentative on whether I was going to pass it or not because I just
seem to pass it to my teammates all the time,” Meyer said. “But I figured it was my turn
to score the first bucket because it rarely happens for me. I was glad to get us off to a
good start.”
After Meyer’s hoop, more than four minutes went by before Routt tallied to tie the score
at a deuce when Autumn Brown (four points) laid one in at 2:15 of the opening quarter.
Brown would tally again with five seconds to go during the initial period to give the Lady
Rockets a 7-4 lead after eight minutes of play.
From there, Thorp finally got into the act with two buckets to tie the score at eight
apiece with four minutes to go in the half. Godhardt then hit two free throws and a put
back to counter four Routt markers as the two teams entered the intermission with an
almost unbelievably low total of a 12-12 tie up after 16 minutes of play.
“We felt fortune to be tied at halftime. We kind of reevaluated things and said it was
zero-to-zero and we’ve got another half of basketball to play,” Burks said. “We needed
to score more obviously, so we tried to put the ball in the hand of Jenna. Sometimes
you put the ball in the hands of your best and pray for the best. We weren’t
disappointed with our decision.”
Thorp tallied eight points in the critical third period as the Lady Royals went up 25-22
after 24 minutes of play.
“I knew I had to hit some shots in the second half inside. But inside outside was what we
needed to capitalize on to keep them guessing,” Thorp said. “Obviously Tess and I
were able to find a way to control the inside part. But Maxzine (Rossler) came up big in
the fourth quarter with a key shot that pretty much sealed our game.”
In the final period, Routt junior Kelly Lonergan, who scored 15 points in the game
including four three-pointers, nailed her final triple at the 5:30 mark to put the Lady
Rockets up 27-26. But on H-BR’s next trip down the floor, Rossler nailed a baseline
three at 5:15 to give the Lady Royals a 29-27 lead that they would never relinquish.
“I’m just glad I hit it. As long as it helped us progress to win a state championship it’s
great,” Rossler said.
“I think her (Rossler’s) shot might have been the key shot to the game,” Eilering said.
“We had taken a one point lead and then she buried that three and the momentum
went right back to Hinckley. What a big shot for her senior year. I think that was the shot
of the game.”
“Maxzine just got set up in that corner and I know she can knock those shots down, I
kind of said to myself get in there and she swished it,” Burks said. “That was a huge
turning point because it happened right in front of our crowd and got us back in the
lead after they had taken it from us seconds earlier. From there, we were able to take
command down the stretch.”
Lindsey would tie the score at 29 apiece with 4:55 to go. But Kaitlin Phillips' lay in at
4:20 gave the Lady Royals the lead for good as H-BR shot seven of 10 free throws
down the stretch to ice its second consecutive state championship.
Meyer, whom had only attempted six free throws during the regular season despite
being a starter all year, hit three of four charity tosses during the final two minutes to
secure the 1A crown for H-BR once again.
“This was a huge accomplishment for me, my team, and the small town of Hinckley to go
back to back with state titles,” Meyer said. “ I’m going to remember the past two years
for a long time. I don’t think these memories are going anywhere anytime soon of the
past two seasons and what we’ve accomplished. It’s quite unbelievable when you think
about it, but we did it. How can you match two straight state championships? In two
words. You can’t."
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
NORMAL – With the clock reading just a scant 0.4 seconds to go, heartfelt tears
started to flow down the face of Hinckley-Big Rock head coach Greg Burks.
He warmly embraced his three senior starters upon their exiting the Class 1A State
Championship game Saturday at Redbird Arena in Normal, all the while with emotions
very hard to control. Just like in 2009, Burks’ tears were ones of pure joy as his Lady
Royals captured a second consecutive 1A crown behind a marvelous defensive effort
and a 38-32 victory over Jacksonville Routt.
H-BR (33-2) now becomes only the seventh school to go back-to-back with IHSA state
titles at Illinois State’s Redbird venue.
The Lady Royals collectively held Routt leading scorers Katie Lindsey and Morgan
Eilering to a combined nine points on the day as the pair registered only 3-of-20 field
goal attempts and three of four from the free throw line.
H-BR senior Jenna Thorp and junior Tess Godhardt were instrumental in stopping the
inside presence of Lindsey and Eilering. But it was the duo’s scoring and rebounding
that also bolstered the Lady Royal overall effort.
Thorp ended up with a team-leading 14 points and Godhardt hauled down a game high
15 rebounds.
Conversely, Thorp finished with nine rebounds, while Godhardt pitched in with nine
tallies as the Lady Royals held strong in a huge defensive battle to capture their much
coveted consecutive championship.
“I lost it on local television this year, but I’m so proud of these girls and emotions are
sometimes hard to hold back,” Burks said. “What you saw today was two outstanding
basketball teams on the floor. Sometimes you get a low score like that where neither
team can do much to get any offense going. But we held out in the end and played
great defensively. I can’t tell you what this second straight championship means to me.”
“We wanted to take Thorp and Godhardt out of the game. But give them both a lot of
credit because they were just fabulous today offensively and defensively,” said Routt
head coach Joe Eilering. “We just had a bunch of shots that didn’t go down today and
their overall defense in the championship game was huge. The pressure that they put
on us didn’t allow us any comfort with our inside game which all season has been very
strong. I’m proud of our girls and the effort we put forward, but Hinckley earned a very
tough championship today. It’s obvious that they’ve been here before and won it last
season. Hats off to them for a great effort once again.”
The game started off on an offensive snail’s pace. Senior Jes Meyer (five points), often
thought of as H-BR’s defensive specialist, hit the first shot of the game at the 6:20 to
put the Lady Royals up 2-0.
“I was actually very tentative on whether I was going to pass it or not because I just
seem to pass it to my teammates all the time,” Meyer said. “But I figured it was my turn
to score the first bucket because it rarely happens for me. I was glad to get us off to a
good start.”
After Meyer’s hoop, more than four minutes went by before Routt tallied to tie the score
at a deuce when Autumn Brown (four points) laid one in at 2:15 of the opening quarter.
Brown would tally again with five seconds to go during the initial period to give the Lady
Rockets a 7-4 lead after eight minutes of play.
From there, Thorp finally got into the act with two buckets to tie the score at eight
apiece with four minutes to go in the half. Godhardt then hit two free throws and a put
back to counter four Routt markers as the two teams entered the intermission with an
almost unbelievably low total of a 12-12 tie up after 16 minutes of play.
“We felt fortune to be tied at halftime. We kind of reevaluated things and said it was
zero-to-zero and we’ve got another half of basketball to play,” Burks said. “We needed
to score more obviously, so we tried to put the ball in the hand of Jenna. Sometimes
you put the ball in the hands of your best and pray for the best. We weren’t
disappointed with our decision.”
Thorp tallied eight points in the critical third period as the Lady Royals went up 25-22
after 24 minutes of play.
“I knew I had to hit some shots in the second half inside. But inside outside was what we
needed to capitalize on to keep them guessing,” Thorp said. “Obviously Tess and I
were able to find a way to control the inside part. But Maxzine (Rossler) came up big in
the fourth quarter with a key shot that pretty much sealed our game.”
In the final period, Routt junior Kelly Lonergan, who scored 15 points in the game
including four three-pointers, nailed her final triple at the 5:30 mark to put the Lady
Rockets up 27-26. But on H-BR’s next trip down the floor, Rossler nailed a baseline
three at 5:15 to give the Lady Royals a 29-27 lead that they would never relinquish.
“I’m just glad I hit it. As long as it helped us progress to win a state championship it’s
great,” Rossler said.
“I think her (Rossler’s) shot might have been the key shot to the game,” Eilering said.
“We had taken a one point lead and then she buried that three and the momentum
went right back to Hinckley. What a big shot for her senior year. I think that was the shot
of the game.”
“Maxzine just got set up in that corner and I know she can knock those shots down, I
kind of said to myself get in there and she swished it,” Burks said. “That was a huge
turning point because it happened right in front of our crowd and got us back in the
lead after they had taken it from us seconds earlier. From there, we were able to take
command down the stretch.”
Lindsey would tie the score at 29 apiece with 4:55 to go. But Kaitlin Phillips' lay in at
4:20 gave the Lady Royals the lead for good as H-BR shot seven of 10 free throws
down the stretch to ice its second consecutive state championship.
Meyer, whom had only attempted six free throws during the regular season despite
being a starter all year, hit three of four charity tosses during the final two minutes to
secure the 1A crown for H-BR once again.
“This was a huge accomplishment for me, my team, and the small town of Hinckley to go
back to back with state titles,” Meyer said. “ I’m going to remember the past two years
for a long time. I don’t think these memories are going anywhere anytime soon of the
past two seasons and what we’ve accomplished. It’s quite unbelievable when you think
about it, but we did it. How can you match two straight state championships? In two
words. You can’t."
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
Photo by Karen Levandowski
STATE CHAMPS: The Hinckley-Big Rock Girls Basketball team poses for a team picture after winning the Class
1A State Championship on Saturday afternoon. Bottom Row: Kaitlin Phillips, Jes Meyer, Maxzine Rossler and
Alyssa Baunach. Top Row: Asst. Coach Don Rasich, Mgr. Ty Tosch, Jessica Leifheit, Jenna Thorp, Head
Coach Greg Burks, Tess Godhardt, Katie Hollis, Mgr. Mike Kula, and Asst. Coach Jerry Tokars.
1A State Championship on Saturday afternoon. Bottom Row: Kaitlin Phillips, Jes Meyer, Maxzine Rossler and
Alyssa Baunach. Top Row: Asst. Coach Don Rasich, Mgr. Ty Tosch, Jessica Leifheit, Jenna Thorp, Head
Coach Greg Burks, Tess Godhardt, Katie Hollis, Mgr. Mike Kula, and Asst. Coach Jerry Tokars.
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