What happens when the NIC-10’s leading scorer can’t shoot?

She falls three steals shy of a triple-double with her team’s season hanging on the line.

Brea Edwards had game highs of 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals to lead Boylan to a 56-47 victory over Crystal Lake South in the Algonquin Jacobs Sectional finals Thursday.

Yet the 5-foot-8 sophomore guard was 0-for-8 shooting until the final two minutes of the third quarter.

“She started off slow, but she pulled herself together and then it was like every game of the season,” forward Devin Mack (15 points, eight rebounds) said.

Edwards, normally a 57-percent shooter, broke a 26-all tie with a put-back with 1:53 left in the third quarter.

“Once I get my rebounds, my whole game changes,” Edwards said.

Did it ever. She grabbed another offensive rebound and converted an old-fashioned three-point play 40 seconds later. She and Mack then hit back-to-back 3s as Boylan (31-1) turned a tie game into the Titans’ biggest lead, 37-28, in the last 73 seconds of the third quarter.

“The whole first quarter, I was bad,” said Edwards, who made 4 of her last 5 shots after her 0-for-8 start. “The second quarter didn’t go that well, either. But my teammates lifted me up at halftime and I had a totally different attitude the second half.”

Senior center Maria Ludeke carried Boylan in the first half. The Titans’ starting guards shot a combined 0-for-11 in the first half, yet Boylan still led 23-17, thanks to Ludeke (14 points, seven rebounds).

“I didn’t want this to be my last game,” said Ludeke, who had 10 points in the first half.

Edwards then took over in the final 10 minutes against Crystal Lake South (26-5), which won its first regional in 16 years and was trying to win its first-ever sectional.

“She was frustrated in the first half, but she gutted it out and found it,” coach Kim Connell said.

All the Titans did. Boylan played its first game decided by fewer than 10 points since December, yet won decisively despite being tied with just over nine minutes to play. Only two 3-pointers by the Gators in the final 20 seconds kept this from being the Titans’ 16th consecutive win in double digits.

“We’re not used to having close games,” Ludeke said, “but we can do it. The games are getting closer, but we’re getting better."

No. 8-ranked Boylan now plays No. 6 Wheeling at 8 p.m. Monday in the Elgin Larkin Supersectional for the right to advance to the Class 4A state semifinals.

- Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com.