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COAL CITY — After Emily Horath’s steal and layup with 30 seconds left tied Monday’s girls basketball game between Coal City and Manteno, the visiting Panthers were able to force another turnover with less than 10 seconds left, allowing them a chance to break a 38-38 tie and continue their undefeated season.
But just moments after it looked like late-game turnovers might do the Coalers in, Coal City senior guard Kylee Kennell was able to come up with a steal of her own with five seconds left.
Kennell took the ball three-quarters of the court, and as the clock ticked down to zero, was able to put in a layup that was tightly-contested by Manteno’s Alyssa Singleton to give the Coalers a riveting 40-38 Illinois Central Eight Conference victory.
The Coalers picked up their sixth win in a row to improve to 13-5 and 6-1 in the ICE, putting them in a tie atop the leaderboard with the Panthers, who now sit at 15-1, 6-1.
While it was Kennell, who had a game-high 23 points, who got her hands on an errant Panther pass and took it the other way, it was a five-girl effort on the defensive end that forced the Manteno turnover she was able to take advantage of.
“We had amazing team defense,” Kennell said of the late-game situation. “Everyone was shutting down their girls and it just happened to be thrown away, and we were able to grab it and take it for a layup.”
Monday’s marquee matchup surely lived up to its lofty expectations with the dramatic ending to a game that never saw either team lead by more than two possessions, a defensively-focused and physical affair that both teams expected coming into it.
“We knew exactly what we were getting into and I think they did too,” Coalers head coach Brad Schmitt said. “There was definitely an offensive struggle at certain times, but they did some things to give us a break and we did some things to give them a break, and in the end we finished it off.”
The first quarter saw five lead changes, the last when Becca Hall kickstarted her own quarter-ending 5-0 run with a 3-pointer to put the Coalers ahead 10-9 with 23 seconds left and quickly followed it up with a steal and layup to make it a 12-9 Coaler lead through a quarter. That first frame set the tone for a contest that saw a total of 15 lead changes, as well as four ties that all came in the fourth quarter.
Kennell had the first of those fourth-quarter ties when she made it a 32-32 tilt 40 seconds into the final stanza, following it up with another bucket a possession later. But Bella Gigliello quickly responded for the Panthers, tying things at 34 with 6:30 remaining.
A minute later, the other side of a defensive battle such as Monday’s game showed when Panthers guard Lila Prindeville fouled out with 5:27 remaining. The lack of Prindeville’s presence, as well as forward Maddie Gesky’s potential injury that relegated her to the bench down the stretch, an unfortunate turn for Manteno head coach Bethany Stritar and her Panthers.
“I knew it was gonna be a battle, and at the end there we lost a player to fouls and also to possible injury that we normally have at the end of the game when Gesky and Prindeville came out of the game,” Stritar said. “Something that could have helped us at the end of the game, maybe to pull away if we needed to, maybe get some rebounds and putbacks and some shooting. But at the end we played the game, and they came out on top.”
The Coalers reclaimed their lead when Emma Rodriguez’s putback put them back ahead 36-34, with Horath and Singleton each splitting a pair of free throws, Singleton’s tying it back at 36 all with 2:10 left. Kennell hit a pair of free throws with 1:45 left to make it 38-36 Coalers, a score that stuck until Horath reached the 20-point mark with her steal and ensuing game-tying layup with 30.8 seconds on the clock.
After the Coalers made it back-to-back turnovers down the stretch that allowed Manteno a late chance to win, Schmitt saw it fitting when he saw his stingy Coalers defense that entered play allowing 35.3 points per game step up when it mattered most.
“We knew that we had to try to take care of the ball, and we didn’t at the end,” Schmitt said. “But team defense got us the ball back, and then Kylee just said ‘this game’s gonna be over, we’re gonna make this layup,’ and she did.”
As the lone returning starter and one of just two seniors that entered the season with significant experience, alongside Rodriguez, Kennell has caught fire over the Coalers’ six-game winning streak, averaging 14.7 points per game over that span.
“She’s been with us for four years, had major minutes for three years and the last two years on really good teams,” Schmitt said of Kennell. “She’s our leader and she’s gonna take us where we need to go at certain times.”
For the Panthers, while they finished the game a bit short-handed, Horath stepped up in a major way, flirting with a triple-double. The senior forward finished the night with 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals.
“She did phenomenal,” Stritar said of Horath. “ ... She’s a defensive threat, but she finished well tonight and did a great job. We needed that tonight.”
After winning their first 15 games by an average of 21.9 points per game, the Panthers will now look to rally from a loss for the first time this season. As the program’s surged to a prestige it hasn’t seen in decades the past few years, they take honor in being the team that everyone in the conference has eyes on taking down this season, and they’ll now look to finish out strong in their battle with Coal City and third-place Herscher for the ICE crown.
“The girls embrace that, people giving us their best, and we’re taking it one game at a time to finish out the season,” Stritar said. “You don’t want to lose, but there’s that relief, because we’ve had that undefeated season that’s now over, but we can focus on the next thing. One thing is to get this one back when we see Coal City again, and we’re still in the hunt for that conference championship.”
With their tie in the standings and Monday’s head-to-head win, the Coalers find themselves as the conference leaders. But the ICE season is just halfway done, and Kennell and her teammates know they’ll have to maintain their recent level if they want sole possession of the conference title after splitting it with Peotone a year ago.
“I think we’ve been doing pretty good lately,” Kennell said. “I just feel we can keep going up from here.”
STAT BOOK
Kennell added five rebounds, three assists and five steals to her 23 points, which came on an 8-for-11 night from the floor, including 2-for-4 from the 3-point line, and a 5-for-6 effort from the free-throw line. Hall finished with nine points, two assists, a rebound and three steals. Rodriguez and Sydney Larson each had four points.
Horath was 7-for-13 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the line to get her team-high 20 points that went with 12 boards, an assist, eight steals and a block. Gesky had six points and seven boards in her limited action. Singleton had three points, five rebounds and three assists.
UP NEXT
The Coalers host Lisle at 6:45 p.m. Thursday. The Panthers visit Peotone at 7 p.m. Thursday.
https://daily-journal.com/sports/girls-basketball-kennells-buzzer-beater-for-coal-city-ends-mantenos-undefeated-season/article_5560cbf0-d251-11ef-806e-97c9f7c5dd11.html