Freeport 53, Johnsburg 52: The searing pressure that seemed to rattle four All-Staters made Kelsey Hoefer smile.
“I love these games,” Hoefer said. “I love the atmosphere. I love all the people that come out to support their teams. I love playing in big games. It’s when I’m the most calm.”
Hoefer backed up her words by scoring a season-high 22 points and leading Freeport back to state with a 53-52 comeback win over Johnsburg in the Elgin Class 3A girls basketball supersectionals Monday night.
Freeport will play Springfield at 1:45 p.m. Friday in the 3A semifinals at Redbird Arena in Normal.
The No. 7-ranked Pretzels (30-3) desperately needed Hoefer on a night when first-team all-state guard Katie Norman (1-for-13 shooting, five turnovers); second-team all-state forward Suporia Dickens (11 points, 5 rebounds) and honorable mention pick Courtney Shiffer (6 points, four turnovers) all struggled.
Of the Pretzels’ four 1,000-point career scorers, the only one who didn’t struggle was the one who was a nonfactor most of the season on offense after suffering a high ankle sprain the week of the season opener. Hoefer didn’t start to hit her stride until the final week of the regular season.
“It’s really tough when you’ve been averaging 10 points ever since you were a freshman and then not being able to do that your whole season,” Hoefer said.
But when Freeport needed Hoefer desperately, she delivered. All game. The Pretzels fell behind 10-0 in the game’s first 3 minutes before Hoefer, a 5-foot-10 forward, hit a 3-pointer. She never stopped hitting, making 8 of 11 shots, including four 3-pointers.
But even that wouldn’t have been enough for the Pretzels, who trailed by as much as 42-30 with 11 minutes to play, if not for guard Caitlin Greene, the only new starter from last year’s state runner-up team. Greene was as calm as Hoefer, scoring 11 points and making three 3-pointers. Her last 3 gave the Pretzels their first lead, 46-44, with 2:45 to play.
“That’s just a shot that I take,” Greene said.
She then took another one, making a layup to cap a 10-0 run and give the Pretzels a four-point lead.
“She is our unsung hero,” Hoefer said. “People talk about the four who have scored 1,000 and have played together for so long and forget about her.”
The Pretzels kept their lead by making 5 of 6 free throws on 1-and-1s in the last 45 seconds. “All year we’ve been a good free-throw shooting team acting like a bad one,” coach Ryan Pierce said, noting Freeport has finally shown its true colors in the playoffs.
Johnsburg’s best player, honorable mention all-stater Melissa Dixon (5-for-13 shooting), also struggled until hitting a hurried 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left. The Skyhawks (27-8) then almost won when Megan Lopez stole the inbounds pass, but she then threw the ball out of bounds.
“I almost had a heart-attack,” Greene said.
“I don’t know,” Norman said, “if I’ll ever be able to calm down after this one.”
- Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com
