Freeport 55, Oswego 47: Thursday’s sectional championship game was bizarre, to say the least.
The scoreboard went blank just before tipoff, Marengo’s gym lights went out within the first three minutes of the game — and Freeport point guard Katie Norman was sick.
But none of that could stop the Pretzels from clinching their second-straight sectional championship, 55-47 against Oswego.
Norman said she was sick immediately after school and was worse on her way to Marengo.
“I texted her (Norman) on the way here because she didn’t ride on the bus with us,” Kelsey Hoefer (10 points) said. “She told me ‘I’m playing regardless.’
“She’s the type of player that’s going to play through it anyways.”
She played until halftime, and threw up at least three times on the ride to Marengo .
“I threw up on the way down here,” said Norman, who finished with eight points and three assists. “And then when I got here I threw up again. I’m hit with something and I don’t know what, but I’m thankful that our team pulled out the win.”
It didn’t appear Norman was sick at all after a reverse layup and a Hoefer layup gave Freeport (29-3) an early 4-0 lead. Freeport finished the first quarter with a 15-5 lead, despite Norman being subbed out more than usual throughout the game.
The Pretzels ended the half with a 26-11 lead, but had more turnovers than they would have liked.
And just before halftime, Norman threw up in a garbage container.
“A lot of it (turnovers) was our leader and main ball-handler was not half the player she normally is,” Freeport coach Ryan Pierce said. “Usually we feed off of her lead but (Thursday), it was the exact opposite. Everyone felt like ‘something’s not right here’ and it was Katie Norman that was hurting us not being out there a little bit.”
It didn’t help that Brittany Collier (six points, four steals), Katie Ziemnik (11 points) and Samiya Wright (Oswego-high 16 points) pestered Freeport’s backcourt all night.
Fortunately for the Pretzels, all three stayed in foul trouble.
The Pretzels will face Johnsburg in the Class 3A Elgin Supersectional at Elgin Community College at 6 p.m. Monday. Tickets are $8 and will be on sale at tonight’s boys game against Boylan.
- Joey Baskerville, Gatehouse News Service
