Cissna Park’s size, points in the post eliminate Cinderella story FCW in sectional semis

RURAL VARNA – Cissna Park brought a noticeable – striking, even – size and height advantage into its Tuesday sectional semifinal matchup with Cinderella regional champion Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland.

And the Timberwolves used it.

In a game where outside shots weren’t falling and usual points machines Addison Lucht for the T-Wolves and Ella Derossett for FCW both were limited to single digits, it was Cissna Park’s interior game that led the sub-sectional’s No. 1 seed past the No. 8 Falcons, 42-30 in the semis of the Class 1A Midland Sectional.

“Rebounding was a big key,” said Timberwolves junior post Lauryn Hamrick, who finished with a game-high 17 points and a half dozen Cissna Park rebounds. “Just getting all the rebounds we can, especially offensive rebounds, and pushing the ball up the court. We’re very good at that.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 16

Cissna Park's Lauryn Hamrick knocks the ball out of the hands of Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland's Kora Edens during the Class 1A Sectional semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 at Midland HIgh School. (Scott Anderson)

Cissna Park (28-5) moves on to Thursday’s championship game against fellow No. 1 seed Roanoke-Benson, a 50-29 victor over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley in Tuesday’s late semifinal.

“We’ve got to have a lot of energy [in the sectional championship game],” Hamrick said. “We’ve got to go to practice tomorrow, be very focused and prepare for Thursday.”

Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland (12-21) closes the books on a season in which the team entered the IHSA postseason with single-digit wins but put things together late to capture the program’s first regional title since its 2007-08 state championship season.

“[Cissna Park] was big and long, and we just couldn’t get shots off,” FCW coach Danielle Pollitt said. “We struggled a little bit. We were prepared, but they did their homework too, and their work underneath the basket is what killed us. No. 0 [Lucht], she wasn’t hurting us. It was the girls down low, and we just don’t have the big girls underneath for the rebounding.

“But I just told the girls, ‘You’ve got to walk out of this locker room with your heads held high. You have surpassed everybody’s expectations.' For them to continue to play the way they have this postseason ... I’m so proud of them.”

In addition to Hamrick’s big game, Josie Neukomm added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Sophia Duis contributed four points and seven rebounds. Lucht – the reigning Kankakee Daily Journal Girls Volleyball Player of the Year and a junior committed to play DI softball collegiately at Northwestern University – was limited to six points on 2-of-16 shooting, but was a force nevertheless with seven rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.

“Our other players really stepped up,” Cissna Park coach Anthony Videka said. “I thought Lauryn and Josie did a really good job kind of taking over that scoring load, putting the ball in the hole for us.

“We didn’t really seem to finish our shots down low either. I don’t know if there are lids on the hoops or what out here, but we just couldn’t get a roll. It is what it is, and we lost our mental focus a little bit, but we found it when we needed it to finish the game out.”

Cissna Park, which co-ops with Christ Lutheran, never trailed, but could never fully shake the underdog Falcons. The Timberwolves led 8-4 after one quarter and 20-12 at halftime, leading by as many as 15 in the late third/early fourth but needing to hold off repeated FCW mini-rallies.

FCW – led by 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting courtesy of sophomore Aubry Edens (six rebounds) along with eight points apiece from lone senior Derossett (five steals) and sophomore Emma Palaschak (three steals) – was outshot 34%-30.3%, outrebounded 34-23 and lost the turnover battle 17-14.