Girls basketball: Erie-Prophetstown can't hold off Sherrard rally

PROPHETSTOWN – Erie-Prophetstown led most of the way in the semifinal of the 2A Erie-Prophetstown Regional on Wednesday, but a basket by Carly Whitsel with 4 seconds left lifted Sherrard to a 33-31 win over the Panthers and ended the first season of the co-op.

Sherrard got the ball with 20 seconds left in a tie game, and was able to feed the ball to the junior forward in the low post. She turned and sank the shot over a pair of E-P defenders.

“They kind of switched to a box-and-one on Taylor [Barber], so we ran a different set to try to get Carly isolated on the post,” Sherrard coach Doug Swanson said. “We knew that she would have a pretty good look there.”

The Panthers had one last chance with 0.7 seconds left, but Sherrard’s defense knocked away the inbounds pass, and the Panthers never were able to get a shot off.

E-P led 10-5 after one quarter and 19-8 at halftime. The Panthers limited the Tigers to long stretches without a basket despite senior Skylar Steimle on crutches and not playing after a knee injury on Monday. Steimle typically guards an opponent’s second-best player.

“They followed our scouting report really well,” Erie-Prophetstown coach Julie Schroeder-Ranz said. “We knew being down a man would hurt us a little bit, so we tried to take [Sherrard] out of what they wanted to do, and I felt the first half, obviously holding them to eight points, we really did that. We got out on their shooters, we got around screens.”

Erie-Prophetstown still led by as many as 10 with 3:09 left in the third until Barber hit a 3-pointer, but the Panthers’ Baylee Anderson answered with a 3-pointer of her own. After a basket in the paint by Whitsell, Emma Camper hit a layup to put the Panthers up 29-19.

Whitsell closed the third quarter with a basket in the paint, and Barber hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth to get Sherrard within two at 29-27.

Erie-Prophetstown tried to burn as much of the clock as it could, with one possession taking 1 minute and 36 seconds.

Sherrard was able to get the ball back with a steal with 2:10 to play, and Lauren McMillin hit a layup to tie the score.

Whitsell put the Tigers ahead from the free-throw line before Camper answered with a drive to the basket to tie the game at 31.

Camper led Erie-Prophetstown with 18 points, including all nine of the Panthers’ points in the second quarter.

“She did a really good job coming off the pick and roll,” Schroeder-Ranz said. “She’s come tremendously in that. Obviously after Monday night when she took us on her shoulders, we knew she’d come out ready to play. Our kids set some good screens and we made some good decisions with them.”

Barber had 12 points and Whitsell added 10 for the Tigers, who will advance to face Fulton in the regional final on Friday.

The loss ends the first season of the Erie-Prophetstown co-op, a season that saw the Panthers go 16-14 and capture the Three Rivers East title.

Girls basketball

2A Erie-Prophetstown Regional semifinal

Sherrard 33, Erie-Prophetstown 31

Star of the game: Carly Whitsell, Sherrard, 10 points, game-winning basket

Key performers: Emma Camper, E-P, 18 points; Taylor Barber, Sherrard, 12 points