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| Northern Illinois women's basketball recruit Jenna Thorp and the Hinckley-Big Rock girls basketball team advanced to the Class 1A state championship game with an overtime victory on Friday. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
NORMAL – Jes Meyer was blunt and to the point.
When it was mentioned that it had been a long time since the Hinckley-Big Rock girls had even been challenged in a game like Friday's Class 1A girls basketball state semifinal against Ridgewood, an eventual 49-46 overtime victory for the Royals, Meyer didn't hesitate to answer.
"Two years," the senior guard said. "In two years we haven't played a close game at state. I was definitely not expecting them to come out and play as strongly as they did. But I'm glad they did. That was a championship game right there.
"I wish we were playing them [Saturday]. But, sadly we're not."
Ridgewood coach Bryan Brooks held a similar sentiment.
"I think we've just seen the state championship game in my opinion," Brooks said.
A classic back-and-forth affair with six lead changes and five ties saw the Royals (32-2) come away victorious over Ridgewood (31-3) at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in the toughest test H-BR has seen in these playoffs.
The Royals are one win away from back-to-back state championships. They will play Jacksonville Routt at 1:45 p.m. today for the state title. Routt (28-6) beat CHBC Co-op, 56-36, in Friday's other semifinal.
Although the Royals had double-digit victories in both games at state last season, they needed all of regulation and overtime to secure a win Friday.
Tied going into the fourth quarter, H-BR went on a quick 6-0 run and spread the floor on offense to try to milk the clock. But Ridgewood's defense held the Royals scoreless for the final 6:17 of regulation and tied the score with a 6-0 run of its own, all off H-BR turnovers. During the run, the Royals committed six turnovers, missed three shots and two free throws.
"We got a little tentative," H-BR coach Greg Burks said. "You always walk that fine line of trying to be disciplined and patient and when you have a five- or six-point lead, taking good shots. But you also fall into that trap of trying to delay too much and maybe that's what happened."
The Royals had the last possession of overtime, but a drawn-up play broke down and Kaitlin Phillips' desperation jumper fell short.
"You get into a tie ballgame in the state tournament with 20 seconds left, not everything works to perfection," Burks said. "Fortunately, we were able to get our composure and that's a credit to the eight girls in this room with me."
In overtime, Tess Godhardt took over, scoring six of her game-high 19 points. H-BR outrebounded Ridgewood 5-1 and forced two critical turnovers that led to three H-BR points. Godhardt finished with a double-double, adding 11 rebounds. Jenna Thorp had a double-double of her own with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
"What we saw [Friday] was an outstanding basketball game between two outstanding teams and I don't think anybody expected anything less," Burks said.
