Serena Shocks H-BR Again
Huge Fourth Quarter Rally Helps Lady Huskers Win Another OT Thriller ...
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
By Bill Lidinsky
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
HINCKLEY – Back on January 19 at the Little Ten Conference Tournament, the Serena
girls basketball team provided one of the biggest upsets in recent memory by rallying to
defeat five-time defending champion Hinckley-Big Rock in overtime during the tourney
semifinals.
Flash forward a little more than two weeks later Saturday afternoon at Hinckley, and the
two teams were at it again with the LTC regular season championship on the line of the
undefeated Little Ten leading Lady Royals who were a perfect 7-0 entering the final game
of the 2011-12 league ledger.
What followed was “deja vu” of the finest kind for the Lady Huskers. But it was even more
stunning in terms of the overall gravity of their rally this time around.
Instead of trailing by 11 early in the third quarter like last time before winning in overtime,
Serena seemed absolutely dead in the water on Saturday trailing by 15 points entering
the fourth and final period.
But the Lady Huskers once again found tremendous inner resolve and went on a 18-3 run
during the final stanza to tie the game and send the proceedings into overtime on
Ashante Witter’s three-point basket with ten seconds to play in regulation.
From there, Witter hit a runner in the lane with ten seconds left in the extra session to give
Serena another inspiring 55-53 comeback overtime victory against an H-BR crew that
once again stood in disbelief after its’ late game meltdown against Serena.
With the win, the Lady Huskers (15-11, 6-2) pulled into a Little Ten regular season third
place tie with Somonauk, while the Lady Royals (20-7, 7-1) end the 11-12 campaign as
LTC co-champions with Newark breaking their two-year run as sole queens of the
conference regular season grind.
“We did not stop and we did not quit. We never really got rattled and I felt we kept our
composure throughout the whole game,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “Just like last
time during the Little Ten tournament, I think for whatever reason, we got into their heads
a little bit late in the game. It was another gutsy, gutsy performance by our girls. We were
down by 11 or 12 in the third quarter during our last game with them. But it was nothing
like being down 15 with only a quarter to play like today. Obviously I’m very pleased with
our effort in coming back even better against a great team for the second time around this
season.”
“It just wasn’t our day again against Serena. They’ve gotten the best of us twice this
season where we should’ve had both games wrapped up with big leads late in the game,”
said H-BR coach Greg Burks. “Obviously we’d like to have some possessions back down
the stretch. But there’s no quit in their team and they showed it to us again today. I have
the greatest respect for Coach Twait. He has his team well prepared. For the second time
this season, we just couldn’t keep our composure with a big lead late in the game and
they took it to us. It’s unfortunate, but it wasn’t meant to be again against them.”
The two clubs battled neck and neck in the first quarter with H-BR leading 12-11 after
eight minutes of play.
Senior all-stater Kaitlin Phillips had six points despite having to deal with a box and one
defense that had her relentlessly shadowed by Serena’s Caleen Smith throughout the
opening stanza.
But Twait went to a conventional man-to-man defense for Serena in the second quarter
with help on Phillips. She wouldn’t tally in the second stanza, but the Lady Royals went on
a 15-7 run to lead 27-18 at the half even though Phillips didn’t make a point.
H-BR would increase its lead to an impressive 15 tallies at 39-24 entering the final period
of play as Katie Hollis (team high 15 points and eight rebounds) registered and old-
fashioned three point score at 1:45 to lift her club to what would seem an insurmountable
15-point lead with only eight minutes to go in the ballgame.
But Serena had other ideas once again against the Lady Royals.
Ashante Witter tallied nine of her game high 22 points, while twin sister Demi Witter
notched nine of her 19 markers to pull Serena into a 42-42 tie with the Lady Royals after
Ashante Witter nailed the big three late in regulation to send the game into extra sessions.
“I knew what we had to do after rallying back being down so much after the third quarter.
We just kept closing the score and when I hit that three to tie it up was amazing,” Ashante
Witter said. “From there, we just kept our momentum going into overtime.”
Phillips (12 points) registered the first three points in the extra session to give H-BR a 45-
42 lead with 3:25 to go.
But Serena went on a 13-8 run from there as it claimed the two point victory and its’
second consecutive overtime triumph against the once infallible Lady Royals.
Ashante Witter’s runner in the lane with ten seconds left in overtime proved to be the
difference as the Lady Husker’s caught late game lightning in a bottle once again versus
the bewildered H-BR contingent.
“I wanted to take a risk. After H-BR tied the game, I knew somebody had to make things
happen for us,” Ashante Witter said. “From there, I took that last shot for us and it put us
in the lead. Luckily, we held on and beat Hinckley for the second straight time.”
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
HINCKLEY – Back on January 19 at the Little Ten Conference Tournament, the Serena
girls basketball team provided one of the biggest upsets in recent memory by rallying to
defeat five-time defending champion Hinckley-Big Rock in overtime during the tourney
semifinals.
Flash forward a little more than two weeks later Saturday afternoon at Hinckley, and the
two teams were at it again with the LTC regular season championship on the line of the
undefeated Little Ten leading Lady Royals who were a perfect 7-0 entering the final game
of the 2011-12 league ledger.
What followed was “deja vu” of the finest kind for the Lady Huskers. But it was even more
stunning in terms of the overall gravity of their rally this time around.
Instead of trailing by 11 early in the third quarter like last time before winning in overtime,
Serena seemed absolutely dead in the water on Saturday trailing by 15 points entering
the fourth and final period.
But the Lady Huskers once again found tremendous inner resolve and went on a 18-3 run
during the final stanza to tie the game and send the proceedings into overtime on
Ashante Witter’s three-point basket with ten seconds to play in regulation.
From there, Witter hit a runner in the lane with ten seconds left in the extra session to give
Serena another inspiring 55-53 comeback overtime victory against an H-BR crew that
once again stood in disbelief after its’ late game meltdown against Serena.
With the win, the Lady Huskers (15-11, 6-2) pulled into a Little Ten regular season third
place tie with Somonauk, while the Lady Royals (20-7, 7-1) end the 11-12 campaign as
LTC co-champions with Newark breaking their two-year run as sole queens of the
conference regular season grind.
“We did not stop and we did not quit. We never really got rattled and I felt we kept our
composure throughout the whole game,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “Just like last
time during the Little Ten tournament, I think for whatever reason, we got into their heads
a little bit late in the game. It was another gutsy, gutsy performance by our girls. We were
down by 11 or 12 in the third quarter during our last game with them. But it was nothing
like being down 15 with only a quarter to play like today. Obviously I’m very pleased with
our effort in coming back even better against a great team for the second time around this
season.”
“It just wasn’t our day again against Serena. They’ve gotten the best of us twice this
season where we should’ve had both games wrapped up with big leads late in the game,”
said H-BR coach Greg Burks. “Obviously we’d like to have some possessions back down
the stretch. But there’s no quit in their team and they showed it to us again today. I have
the greatest respect for Coach Twait. He has his team well prepared. For the second time
this season, we just couldn’t keep our composure with a big lead late in the game and
they took it to us. It’s unfortunate, but it wasn’t meant to be again against them.”
The two clubs battled neck and neck in the first quarter with H-BR leading 12-11 after
eight minutes of play.
Senior all-stater Kaitlin Phillips had six points despite having to deal with a box and one
defense that had her relentlessly shadowed by Serena’s Caleen Smith throughout the
opening stanza.
But Twait went to a conventional man-to-man defense for Serena in the second quarter
with help on Phillips. She wouldn’t tally in the second stanza, but the Lady Royals went on
a 15-7 run to lead 27-18 at the half even though Phillips didn’t make a point.
H-BR would increase its lead to an impressive 15 tallies at 39-24 entering the final period
of play as Katie Hollis (team high 15 points and eight rebounds) registered and old-
fashioned three point score at 1:45 to lift her club to what would seem an insurmountable
15-point lead with only eight minutes to go in the ballgame.
But Serena had other ideas once again against the Lady Royals.
Ashante Witter tallied nine of her game high 22 points, while twin sister Demi Witter
notched nine of her 19 markers to pull Serena into a 42-42 tie with the Lady Royals after
Ashante Witter nailed the big three late in regulation to send the game into extra sessions.
“I knew what we had to do after rallying back being down so much after the third quarter.
We just kept closing the score and when I hit that three to tie it up was amazing,” Ashante
Witter said. “From there, we just kept our momentum going into overtime.”
Phillips (12 points) registered the first three points in the extra session to give H-BR a 45-
42 lead with 3:25 to go.
But Serena went on a 13-8 run from there as it claimed the two point victory and its’
second consecutive overtime triumph against the once infallible Lady Royals.
Ashante Witter’s runner in the lane with ten seconds left in overtime proved to be the
difference as the Lady Husker’s caught late game lightning in a bottle once again versus
the bewildered H-BR contingent.
“I wanted to take a risk. After H-BR tied the game, I knew somebody had to make things
happen for us,” Ashante Witter said. “From there, I took that last shot for us and it put us
in the lead. Luckily, we held on and beat Hinckley for the second straight time.”
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!
At Hinckley
Serena 55, Hinckley-Big
Rock 53 (OT)
Serena (55) – Smith 2 1-4
5, Murphy 1 0-0 2, A. Witter
0 2-4 22, D. Witter 4 11-13
19, Brennan 3 1-2 7, Krug
0 0-0 0, Cools 0 0-0 0.
Totals 19 15-23 55.
H-BR (53) – Hollis 5 5-9
15, Phillips 3 6-13 12,
Madden 1 0-2 2, Paver 3 4-
6 10, Warner 2 1-2 6,
Tosch 2 0-0 4, Edmeier 2
0-0 4, Cowan 0 0-0 0.
Totals 18 16-32 53.
Serena 11 7 6 18 13 – 55
H-BR 12 15 12 3 11 – 53
3-point goals – Serena 2
(A. Witter 2); H-BR 1
(Warner). Rebounds –
Serena 31 (D. Witter 8, A.
Witter 6, Smith 5); H-BR 35
(Hollis 8, Phillips 7,
Edmeier 6, Tosch 5).
Turnovers – Serena 24; H-
BR 20. Total fouls (fouled
out) – Serena 24 (D.
Witter); H-BR 21 (Tosch).
Records: Serena 15-11 (6-
2 LTC), H-BR 20-7 (7-1).
Serena 55, Hinckley-Big
Rock 53 (OT)
Serena (55) – Smith 2 1-4
5, Murphy 1 0-0 2, A. Witter
0 2-4 22, D. Witter 4 11-13
19, Brennan 3 1-2 7, Krug
0 0-0 0, Cools 0 0-0 0.
Totals 19 15-23 55.
H-BR (53) – Hollis 5 5-9
15, Phillips 3 6-13 12,
Madden 1 0-2 2, Paver 3 4-
6 10, Warner 2 1-2 6,
Tosch 2 0-0 4, Edmeier 2
0-0 4, Cowan 0 0-0 0.
Totals 18 16-32 53.
Serena 11 7 6 18 13 – 55
H-BR 12 15 12 3 11 – 53
3-point goals – Serena 2
(A. Witter 2); H-BR 1
(Warner). Rebounds –
Serena 31 (D. Witter 8, A.
Witter 6, Smith 5); H-BR 35
(Hollis 8, Phillips 7,
Edmeier 6, Tosch 5).
Turnovers – Serena 24; H-
BR 20. Total fouls (fouled
out) – Serena 24 (D.
Witter); H-BR 21 (Tosch).
Records: Serena 15-11 (6-
2 LTC), H-BR 20-7 (7-1).
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Photo by Bill Lidinsky
Serena's Jeri Brennan (24) defends Hinckley-Big Rock's Lauren Paver (22) during Saturday's
Little Ten Conference game at Hinckley. Serena once more had a comeback-of-the-ages
performance against the Lady Royals.
Serena's Jeri Brennan (24) defends Hinckley-Big Rock's Lauren Paver (22) during Saturday's
Little Ten Conference game at Hinckley. Serena once more had a comeback-of-the-ages
performance against the Lady Royals.