MACHESNEY PARK — At first, Boylan couldn’t shoot. Then the Titans couldn’t hold onto the ball. But always, always, they played defense.
“Our defense is incredible. It’s been this whole season,” Brea Edwards said after scoring 18 points to lead Boylan to a 52-42 girls basketball victory Saturday over Algonquin Jacobs in the title game of the 31st Harlem Holiday Classic.
Defense kept Boylan (11-1) tied at 8-all after one quarter despite shooting 3-for-17. And defense helped the Titans pull away after Jacobs wiped out a 31-19 halftime deficit to pull even at 37 on a 3-pointer by Hailey Cnota (12 points). Boylan forced four turnovers in the next three minutes and Kierra Valentine (nine points) started a 15-5 finishing run with a 3-pointer and two free throws.
“This is what has gotten us this far, our defense,” Valentine said.
Boylan forced 25 turnovers by Jacobs (10-3) but committed 20 itself, although none were in the final five minutes.
“It was rough,” Edwards said. “We didn’t slow the ball down. We were in a rush. We finally calmed down. We wanted to win this, so we had to pull it back.”
“This was the most physical team we’ve played all season,” coach Kim Connell said of a Jacobs team Boylan could meet in the sectional semifinals. “It was a good challenge for us. Today was a Freeport-type game.”
The Titans’ only loss was in overtime to Freeport. They have now won the Harlem Classic four years in a row.
“We wanted to keep that tradition,” Valentine said.
Auburn 52, Harlem 46: Auburn was snowed out of a chance at the title when its game against Jacobs was canceled Friday and the Knights were seeded into the fourth-place game, but they made the most of it by rallying past Harlem.
“We’ve got to make a name for ourselves,” sophomore center Tierny Austin (21 points) said. “People don’t think we’re a good team, so we have to step up. If we play good defense and get good shots, we can go a long way.”
Kortney Busekros (19 points) scored off a steal to put Harlem (5-7) in front 43-41 with three minutes left. But Anita Amisi tied it with two free throws and put Auburn (10-1) ahead to stay with a steal and a layup. The Knights, who trailed 10-4 after one quarter, had four steals in the last three minutes.
“We struggled from the beginning getting ourselves together,” said Amisi, who scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter, “but at the end we calmed down. We know we beat teams with our speed, so that’s what we had to do. We had to get it together. We did well at the end.”
Rock Falls 44, Guilford 35: Five different players scored in the fourth quarter to help Rock Falls turn a three-point lead into a nine-point win for seventh place.
Lindy Holcomb scored 10 points for the Rockets. Lauren Paulson scored 15 for Guilford and Tiffany Martinez added 11.
Lutheran 54, East 23: Sophomore Laura Rushing scored 24 points to lead Lutheran to 10th place. Kayla Glovier topped the E-Rabs with seven points.
Jacobs 66, Hampshire 49: Maria Tamburrino (19), Sam Vojtsek (17) and Hailey Cnota (16) combined for 52 points to lead Algonquin Jacobs to a semifinal win. Cassie Dumoulin and Alex Dumoulin each had 17 for Hampshire.
Harlem 40, Sycamore 30: Kortney Busekros scored eight of her 16 points in the first quarter to help Harlem to an early 11-2 lead in the fourth-place semifinals. Katie Binder led Sycamore with 11 points.
Rock Falls 32, North 29: Lindy Holcomb scored 19 points to lift Rock Falls past Belvidere North in the seventh-place semifinals.
Lutheran 67, C. Life 16: Heather Baier scored 16 points and Lauren McKee 12 in Lutheran’s 10th-place semifinal win.
- Eric Pearson, rrstar.com
