Rochelle 77, Sterling 76: Sterling’s Joseph Bertrand gave the Fighting Illini fans in attendance a taste of what’s to come with a smooth performance, but it was the Rochelle Hubs who were celebrating a 77-76 upset victory at the end of Wednesday’s Sterling Regional semifinal matchup.
Freeport 48, Sterling 34: The thought of a “Sterling curse” can finally be to put to rest.
Even though for the first half, it almost seemed like the Freeport girls basketball team started to shoot like it from the free-throw line.
But Courtney Shiffer (game-high 21 points, four blocks, three steals), Kelsey Hoefer (nine points, 2-of-2 FTs), Katie Norman (nine points, 2-of-2 FTs) and Suporia Dickens (nine points, 3-of-6 FTs) each made them in the second half when needed most as the Pretzels (27-3) beat Sterling, 48-34.
Sterling 58, Rochelle 47: Rochelle finally stopped Sterling’s center, but the subs got the Hubs.
Sophomore backup guard Lauren Hernandez had eight assists and Kayla Romano scored 10 points in 11 minutes on perfect 4-for-4 shooting to lead No. 2 seed Sterling to a 58-47 victory Wednesday in a Class 3A girls basketball regional semifinal.
“We have a lot of different starters; we believe we are eight or nine deep and on any given night it can be any one of these kids,” coach Julie Schroeder said.
Sterling 71, Rochelle 46: Joseph Bertrand had 24 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals to lead the Golden Warriors. Niko Rivera followed with 17 points for Sterling, which outrebounded Rochelle 45-24. Andy Wilkinson had 18 points for Rochelle.
Sterling 63, Ottawa 43: A 46-point second-half propelled Sterling. Niko Rivera had 19 points and Clay Hadley 16 for Sterling.
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Freeport 51, Sterling 50: Led by Austin Davis’ 20 points, Freeport rallied for the win.
Joseph Bertrand led Sterling with 19 points and Dustin Fritsch had 17.
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Sterling 43, Streator 29: Kaitlin Loos and Lauren Hernandez each scored 13 to propel Sterling to the victory.
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Milledgeville 59, Sterling 51: The Missiles rode Kirk Engelkens’ 21-point effort to the victory.
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