Sports Highlights for Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018

BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

Sterling at LaSalle-Peru, 7 p.m.

Bureau Valley at Newman, 7 p.m.

Milledgeville at Durand, 7:30 p.m.

Lena-Winslow at West Carroll, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY

1A Polo Regional, Eastland vs. Erie, 7 p.m.

1A East Dubuque Regional, Stockton vs. Scales Mound, 7:30 p.m.

2A Fulton Regional, West Carroll vs. Kewanee, 6 p.m.

2A Fulton Regional, Fulton vs. Morrison, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY

1A Amboy Regional, Milledgeville vs. Hiawatha, 6 p.m.

BOYS BASKETBALL HIGHLIGHTS

SATURDAY

Pearl City 38, West Carroll 26: The Wolves held the Thunder without a field goal in the third quarter in an NUIC West road win.

Lucas Peterson scored 12 points to lead the way for the Wolves, who led 19-16 at halftime. Jordan Anderson led the Thunder with seven points, including a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers.

FRIDAY

Newman 69, Kewanee 45: The Comets took an early lead and never trailed against the Boilermakers in a Three Rivers East road game.

Cade Gorzny hit four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 20 points, Brycen Bartel added 12, and seniors Gehrig Koerner and Travis Williams chipped in 10 apiece for the Comets.

Newman stretched a 14-8 first-quarter lead into a 36-15 margin by halftime with a 22-7 second-quarter run. Newman led 55-27 heading into the final period.

TUESDAY

Sterling 57, Sycamore 39: The Golden Warriors raced out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter and closed well by outscoring the Spartans 17-6 in the fourth to win a NIB-12 crossover game on the road.

Micah Kendrick scored a game-high 13 points, while Sean Gingrich added 12 for Sterling. Tyler Willman and Isaiah Ryan chipped in 10 apiece.

Quinten Petit led Sycamore with 12 points, all coming from beyond the 3-point line. The Spartans hit 10 3-pointers in the game.

Milledgeville 58, Pearl City 50: Kyle Ottens scored 30 points as the Missiles topped the Wolves in an NUIC crossover game in Pearl City.

Cade Schave added 11 for Milledgeville, and Blayne Kappes scored eight.

Brock Smargiassi led Pearl City with 15.

Fulton 59, Morrison 47: The Mustangs got off to a good start, leading 19-16 after one quarter, but the Steamers’ defense locked down over the next three quarters and Fulton came away with its 20th win of the year.

Fulton outscored Morrison 16-9, 9-8 and 18-11 in the second, third and fourth quarters.

Cody Sanderson led the Steamers with a career-high 30 points. Tyler Bruggenwirth added nine.

Ben Brackemyer led the Mustangs with 14 points. Britt Ottens added 11.

Lena-Winslow 52, Forreston 41: After a halftime tie at 25, the Panthers held the Cardinals to just a pair of field goals in the third quarter to come away with an NUIC crossover home win.

Isaiah Bruce scored 13 first-half points and finished with 16 points to lead the Panthers. Parker Magee added 13 points, and Cade Benson chipped in 10 points.

Brandon Schneiderman led the Cardinals with 18 points, including the Cardinals’ lone third-quarter field goals – both 3s.

GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY

3A Dixon Regional, Sterling/Freeport winner (from Monday) vs. Rockford Lutheran, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY

1A Aquin Sectional final, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

3A Dixon Regional final, 7 p.m.

MONDAY

1A Belvidere Supersectional, Aquin Sectional winner vs. Walther Christian Sectional winner, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY

3A Genoa-Kingston Sectional semifinal, Dixon Regional winner vs. Wheaton St. Francis Regional winner, 6 p.m.

GIRLS BASKETBALL HIGHLIGHTS

FRIDAY

1A Newman Regional final

Eastland 48, Prophetstown 40: The Cougars’ hopes of a second straight regional title were on life support, and Prophetstown appeared on its way to extending the life of its program at least another few days while adding one last regional crown to the already-packed trophy case.

But Eastland turned up the pressure on defense, the 3-pointers started to fall from Erin Henze, and Eastland’s 24 fourth-quarter points led the Cougars to the championship.

The Prophets led 30-17 until Henze hit the second of her five 3-pointers in the second half with 3:27 left in the third. That came at the start of a stretch during which Prophetstown turned the ball over 11 times in the span of 13 trips down the floor.

“Our defense in the first half was not good at all,” said Henze, who had four steals during the stretch. “I think we just came out [in the second half] with a lot more intensity in our press and our half-court defense, and that picked up our momentum on offense as well.”

Prophetstown led 34-24 to open the fourth quarter, but the Eastland defense was still clicking and the offense started to follow suit. An Erykah Ames steal led to a Coatney layup. Henze hit a 3-pointer, then picked up a steal and hit another. Krogman added a putback, and with 4:58 left in the game, Eastland tied it 34-34 with a 10-0 run.

Prophetstown briefly regained the lead thanks to a Hannah McKinney jumper and a basket from Johnson, but Eastland answered again.

Henze hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one, then was fouled attempting another and converted two of her three free throws, putting the Cougars in front with 1:14 left, Eastland’s first lead since early in the second quarter.

In the final 1:14, Eastland iced the game by shooting 7-for-9 from the free-throw line, and one of those misses was rebounded and put back by Jordan Miller.

Prophetstown’s defense also helped build the early lead. Playing a triangle-and-two on Henze and Coatney, the Prophets held the two Cougar guards to two points each in the first half.

With Prophetstown switching to a box-and-one on Coatney in the second half, Henze broke loose, hitting five 3-pointers on her way to a 20-point night.

Dena Johnson had eight of her team-high 12 points in the first half. Pierceson had seven points in the half and 10 for the game.

THURSDAY

Sterling 61, Rochelle 38: After all of the pomp and circumstance of Senior Night transitioned to game time, Sterling senior Emilie Powers had a bad feeling something wasn’t going right while shooting during warmups.

Facing the Rochelle Hubs in her final home game, Powers had a much better time hitting shots when it mattered. She hit 3-pointers in the second, third, and fourth quarters to provide enough pop to lead her team to a Northern Illinois Big 12 West win at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

Powers’ first 3 came with 3:56 left in the second quarter. She caught a pass from Grace Gould just to the left of the top of the key and sank it to inch the Golden Warriors within one point of Rochelle’s lead (21-20).

Gould followed that with an eventual go-ahead 3 from the left elbow for a 23-21 lead with 2:38 to play. Sterling (12-18) led 26-23 at halftime and didn’t trail again.

Sterling coach Taylor Jackson started all four of her seniors – Powers, Kailey Mitchell, Gabi Schilling and Akira Tanton – along with Josi Borum.

Josi and Brooklyn Borum pulled down plenty of rebounds on both ends of the court. Both finished with double-doubles: Brooklyn scored 15 points, pulled down 13 offensive boards, and finished with 20 total rebounds; Josi finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Abby Lundquist led the Hubs with 19 points and nine rebounds.

WEDNESDAY

1A Newman Regional

Eastland 53, Newman 47: Down by four as the clock ticked under a minute to go, Karlie Krogman scored a bucket through contact, and Katie Krogman’s three-point play 4 seconds later gave Eastland a lead with 49.6 seconds it wouldn’t relinquish in a semifinal victory over the hosts.

Newman took its first lead of the game at 40-39 with 4:25 left after Delaney Hinrichs knocked down a 3 from the wing. Hannah Wilson came up with two huge offensive rebounds down the stretch, and knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Comets a 47-43 advantage.

Even with Eastland’s Erin Henze on the bench after fouling out, Newman couldn’t close the door, due to a 4-for-9 performance from the foul line and several turnovers in the final 2 minutes.

Eastland hit its first nine shots of the game and had eight assists on its way to leading 21-11 after one quarter.

Madison Craft’s second 3 of the second quarter cut the Comets’ deficit to 28-21, and Josie Rank’s putback put Newman within striking distance down 30-23 at the half.

Savannah Skinner hit a 3 and a runner to trim Eastland’s lead to 30-28, and Hinrichs tied the score at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter with a pair of free throws. The Cougars held a 37-34 lead after three quarters, but scored just nine and seven points in the second and third quarter, respectively.

Craft scored a game-high 14 points for Newman. Skinner scored all 10 of her points after halftime, and Hinrichs added eight while limiting Coatney to just nine points.

Eastland finished at 34 percent (18-for-53) from the floor, but made up for it by sinking 14 of its 18 free throws. Karlie Krogman had 12 points, five rebounds and two assists, and her senior sister added 11 points, eight boards, three assists and two steals. Henze had 12 points, three steals, and a pair of rebounds and assists.

1A Newman Regional

Prophetstown 41, Milledgeville 29: The Prophets used a box-and-one defense to limit Mady Frederick, the Missiles’ lead scorer, to only a pair of fourth-quarter field goals on nine total shots, and that was well after the Prophets had control of the game.

Milledgeville trailed 13-5 at the end of the first quarter, and outscored Prophetstown 5-4 in the second quarter. The Prophets doubled up on their own first-half point total, as well as Milledgeville’s total points at the end of three quarters (32-16).

Frederick finished with nine points for Milledgeville.

2A Riverdale Regional

Riverdale 52, Fulton 36: The Steamers could not hang onto a halftime lead and fell to the host Rams.

Fulton led 23-21 at half, but scored just 13 points the rest of the way. By the end of the third quarter, the lead was gone as Riverdale had pulled in front 39-30.

Rylee Leitzen led Fulton with 11 points. Liz Fish added eight.

Harvest Christian 69, West Carroll 29: The Thunder’s season came to an end in the regional semifinals in Port Byron.

1A East Dubuque Regional

East Dubuque 53, Lena-Winslow 34

TUESDAY

1A Newman Regional

Newman 53, Erie 37: The Comets began their postseason the way they started the regular season – with a lopsided win over Erie.

The Comets got out to a big early lead and cruised to a win against the Cardinals, leading 19-4 in the first 6½ minutes of play.

Erie did claw its way back with a nine-point run, but Newman responded with a 13-0 run over the next 6 minutes, capped by two free throws from Madison Craft to up the Comets’ lead to 32-13.

The Cardinals committed 14 first-half turnovers, and 26 for the game. Newman had 17 steals, with Lauren Wilson leading the way with eight.

Newman led by as many as 23 points (38-15) with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

Samantha Skinner paced a balanced Newman attack with 14 points, Craft had nine, and Lauren Wilson had eight points, eight steals and four rebounds.

Whitney Bramm led Erie with 13 points, while Riley Redell added 11. Skylar Steimle grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and nabbed four of her team’s seven steals.

1A East Dubuque Regional

Lena-Winslow 68, River Ridge/Scales Mound 51: The Panthers scored 47 points in the second half to run away with a regional quarterfinal win over the Wildcats.

Madilyn Schultz hit six 3-pointers – including five in the second half – to finish with 33 points for the Panthers. Carmen DeVries added 10 points.

2A Riverdale Regional

West Carroll 49, Morrison 32

Kaneland 59, Sterling 40: The Golden Warriors fell at Musgrove Fieldhouse, being outscored 12-5 in the first quarter, 22-12 in the second and 13-5 in the third.

Josi Borum led the Warriors with 19 points. Katelyn Grell added six.

WRESTLING SCHEDULE

THURSDAY

IHSA State Meet, 1A preliminary round, 1 p.m.

IHSA State Meet, 2A preliminary round, 3 p.m.

FRIDAY

IHSA State Meet, 1A quarterfinals and first-round wrestlebacks, 8:30 a.m.

IHSA State Meet, 2A quarterfinals and first-round wrestlebacks, 11 a.m.

IHSA State Meet, 1A/2A semifinals, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

IHSA State Meet, 1A/2A quarterfinal wrestlebacks, 9 a.m.

IHSA State Meet, 1A/2A semifinal wrestlebacks, 11 a.m.

IHSA State Meet, 1A/2A third-through-sixth-place matches, 1 p.m.

IHSA State Meet, 1A/2A championships, 5:30 p.m.

TUESDAY

1A Morrison Dual Team Sectional, Lena-Winslow/Stockton vs. Aurora Christian, 6 p.m.

WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS

SATURDAY

Figueroa, Garcia advance to 2A state: Two Sterling wrestlers survived the Sycamore Sectional and will compete at the 2A state meet at State Farm Center in Champaign.

Isaiah Figueroa (138 pounds) and Turner Garcia (160) finished in fourth place at the sectional.

Figueroa dropped a 8-4 decision to Geneseo’s Andrew Rizzo in a semifinal, but recorded six takedowns in his wrestleback semi against Metamora’s Brayden Smith on his way to a 12-8 decision.

Figueroa went on to take fourth place after falling in a 12-6 decision against Rochelle’s Eddie Villalobos for third. The Sterling junior barely made it out of regionals as a third-place winner, and used his role as an underdog to his advantage.

Garcia had his high school career on the line after losing an 11-2 major decision to Washington’s Jared Head in a semifinal, but pinned Metamora’s Vinny Querciagrossa in 5:37 in a wrestleback semi to clinch his first state berth. Garcia led 6-2 in the third period before a reversal put him in position for the pin.

Kuehl, Valentine win 1A sectional titles: The final area tally of state qualifiers out of the 1A Oregon Sectional included four Lena-Winslow/Stockton PantherHawks, three Fulton Steamers, two Morrison Mustangs, two Newman Comets, and one West Carroll Thunder wrestler.

Kuehl scored a 3-1 decision win against Fulton’s Taylor Fleetwood in the 285-pound championship, while Valentine scored a 16-0 tech fall against Erie-Prophetstown’s Mat Garrison at 170 pounds.

Jaden Rice (106) and Hunter Luke (138) also advanced for the PantherHawks, but both fell to Aurora Christian wrestlers in their title bouts. Rice lost 6-4 to Joel Mylin, and Luke lost 7-6 to Zeke Marshall.

Fulton’s single-season pins record fell, as Eli Pannell (195) set the new mark at 29 after pinning Byron’s Colton Ingram in his third-place bout. Tyler Fleetwood (132) also advanced for the Steamers, but fell 3-1 to Alleman’s Jack Patting in a third-place bout to end his weekend.

Newman’s Kyle Tunink (120) and Brody Ivey (145) dropped sectional championship bouts to Aurora Christian opponents. Tunink lost 1-0 to Cameron Johnson, and Ivey lost 8-6 to Eli Ibarra.

Augustus Linke (138) and Reilly Dolan (145) will represent Morrison at state. Dolan beat Orion’s Trent Scharpman with a 9-0 major decision in a third-place bout. Linke dropped his third-place bout to Rockridge’s Nolan Throne by major decision.

Ethen Doty (120) will represent West Carroll at state, finishing in fourth place after falling 7-4 to Rockford Lutheran’s Josh Schrank.

FOOTBALL

Le-Win star heading to NIU

Lena-Winslow running back Rahveon Valentine committed to Northern Illinois as a preferred walk-on Wednesday.

He rushed 218 times for 2,165 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2017 for the Class 1A state champion Panthers, including 140 yards and two TDs in the state championship game against Tuscola.

Valentine is the top rusher in the history of the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference with 4,633 rushing yards on 455 carries and 56 TDs.