Bolingbrook girls basketball team's comeback comes up short vs. Oswego East

LISLE – Bolingbrook made a late charge at Oswego East, but in the end, missed free throws and defensive mistakes proved costly in Tuesday’s Class 4A Benet Sectional semifinal.

The Raiders (17-9) trailed from the opening tip and came back from a 13-point deficit to create a 44-49 game midway through the fourth quarter.

In the end, Oswego East held strong for the 60-49 win to advance to Thursday’s title game against Benet.

“It was a combination of things that’s killed us all year,” Bolingbrook coach Christopher Smith said. “Turnovers, missed free throws and missed layups – when you start playing good teams, those things can’t happen.”

Oswego East’s Ty Battle exploded for a 10-point first quarter to surpass the 1,000-point career mark and get the Wolves off to a fast start.

The Wolves took a 33-26 advantage at halftime before Battle (19 points) came up with a steal to help her team establish a 10-point lead.

“It was just really bad passes and not valuing the possession, not taking anything away from (Battle),” Smith said. “She jumps on passes that shouldn’t have been made and we just didn’t move. We just flat out didn’t move. I think the stage was kind of big for some of us today. We just got out of control.”

Oswego East (27-2) built a 46-33 heading into the fourth quarter before Bolingbrook’s Gabriella Smith (18 points) hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to begin the Raiders’ rally.

Jnaya Walker (12 points) came up with a field goal to cut the Wolves’ lead to 49-44 with 4:29 to go, prompting Oswego East coach Abe Carretto to call a timeout.

Oswego East’s Jesinde Thomas continued her aggressive play down the stretch after taking two earlier charges under the Raiders’ basket.

Thomas went to the line four times, going 5 for 8 as the Wolves shot 8 for 12 in the final period to ice the victory.

“We talked about being strong and being big. We knew we were undersized compared to their guards and Jesinde Thomas has been doing that for me for the last two years,” Carretto said. “She just wants to lay it all out on the line for the team and our other guards were diving on the floor, getting the loose balls and getting everything we could.”