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MAPLE PARK – Amani Meeks did nearly everything for Kaneland against Sycamore Friday, so it’s fitting she had the overtime dagger that sank the Spartans.
The sophomore guard’s 3-point play in the extra period boosted the Knights' lead to six in their eventual 55-49 Interstate 8 Conference win.
“I just kind of forgot about the mistakes I made and worried about the next play,” Meeks said. “I was just playing confident.”
Meeks didn’t exactly have a ton of mistakes as she finished with a team-best 13 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals in the victory.
The Knights very much needed her performance. Leading scorer Kendra Brown picked up her fourth foul early in the quarter and Kyra Lilly followed soon after.
Brown fouled out with 1:24 left in the fourth, the game tied at 43 and on a play away from the ball.
“It was a back-and-forth game literally the whole game and then Kendra fouls out there in the fourth quarter,” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said. “It could have been real easy for our team to kind of shut down. We didn’t. Other girls stepped up.”
The Spartans (4-5, 2-1 I-8) went ahead with 1:07 left in regulation on a bucket by Norah Chami, but Sam Kerry tied it up at 45 with 56.3 to go.
Both defenses clamped down and neither team scored again in regulation.
The Knights got the first four of the overtime from the free-throw line, but Quinn Carrier got a steal and 3-pointer to get Sycamore within 49-48.
It was the last field goal of the game for the Spartans. Lilly pushed the lead back to three on a layup, then after a couple of stops Meeks got her layup and free throw to push the lead to 54-48.
“We really kept our composure,” Meeks said. “There were a lot of times we had a lot of turnovers or just made mistakes. But we bounced back, kept our heads high and picked each other up after every mistake.”
Kaneland (5-3, 1-1) scored the first six points of the game. Neither team led by more than six in the contest, and there were six ties and six lead changes.
The Spartans took a 43-38 lead with 4:43 left on a putback by Carrier, but they started turning the ball over and missing shots, leading to five straight Kaneland points to tie things up. Brown capped the run with a pair of free throws with 1:50 left.
Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said his team didn’t execute as well as it did earlier this week at La Salle-Peru. The Spartans had a key 3-minute possession in that game but couldn’t run their offense the same way against the Knights.
“You try to have longer possessions when you have the lead late in games,” Wickness said. “You make them come foul you, you make your free throws and that’s how you ice the game. We did the perfect job of that Tuesday. ... We kind of lost our cool there a little bit and didn’t do things the way we were hoping.”
Carrier had 14 points, five rebounds and four steals for Sycamore. Sadie Lang added 16 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Cortnie Kruizenga chipped in eight points.
Lilly finished with 13 points for the Knights and freshman Grace Brunscheen had 12 points and nine rebounds.
“We know teams are going to focus on Kendra Brown and Sam Kerry,” Claesson said. “We’re kind of looking for that third girl to step up. It was kind of one of those games where [Meeks] just needed to see the ball go in the hoop a couple times. You could just see the confidence grow. She made some unbelievable plays down the stretch.”