Girls basketball: Streator slips past Henry-Senachwine 29-27 on Marisa Vickers’ buzzer-beater

STREATOR – If Marisa Vickers has “a shot,” it would probably be the Streator senior lofting a soft 7- to 9-foot jumper from the center of the lane, just inside the free-throw line.

Wednesday night in the Streator Bulldogs’ 29-27 victory over the Henry-Senachwine Mallards, that was “the shot.”

“I was just looking to go wherever it was open,” Vickers said of her buzzer-beating game-winner which came after a nifty entry pass from Kiley Rhodes, a gliding Vickers stride and a turnaround dribble. “I saw that I had the opportunity to shoot it, and I just went up with it.

“I definitely feel more confident shooting from that spot, but I just saw it was open and went there. It feels really good to get that win.”

“I was hoping for a quality shot [there at the end], a quality 2,” Streator coach Jacob Durdan said. “We have a good 3-point shooter, Cailey Gwaltney, but I was really hoping for an open 2 there.”

Vickers’ winner decided a low-scoring but entertaining second meeting between the teams.

After defeating Henry-Senachwine (2-15) by seven points during the opening week of the season in Princeton, Streator (3-15) got off to an incredibly slow start Wednesday against the Mallards, needing a buzzer-beater from Charlee Bourell to score any points in a first quarter that ended with Henry-Senachwine ahead 3-2.

The pace and quality of play picked up from there, with the nonconference Route 18 rivals trading leads. The Bulldogs’ largest advantage was eight points, 19-11, on a Gwaltney 3 midway through the third quarter; Henry’s largest, three points, accomplished three times, the last with 2:13 remaining after a clutch Rachel Eckert 3-pointer put the Mallards ahead one final time 27-24.

The Mallards didn’t score from there, however, allowing the hosts to climb back to even on a Jade Williams free throw with 1:45 remaining and an Ellie Isermann mid-range jumper – not far from where the game-winner would eventually be shot – with 28 seconds left in regulation.

Henry-Senachwine had first crack at a potential game-winning possession, but defended well by Streator lost a pass out of bounds, giving the ball to the Bulldogs with 9.8 seconds remaining to set up Vickers’ winner.

“We’re young, and we work on stuff and try to take advantage of every moment we have, but again, we turned the ball over, and it was a freshman passing to a freshman,” Mallards coach Erik Greenwood said. “But no excuses though. We play with who we have out there.

“I felt like Streator, we were down eight there in the third quarter, but they just kept coming, kept coming. They were prepared for the physicality and some of the stuff, and I felt that, we’re so young, even if that stuff doesn’t affect us on the individual plays, it starts to wear down on us a bit.”

Kaitlyn Anderson posted her second consecutive double-double to lead Henry-Senachwine, combining her game-high 15 points with a game-best 14 rebounds. She also added three blocked shots and four steals. Eckert added seven points, with Lauren Harbison pitching in four points and a game-best six steals.

Isermann led Streator with a 10-point, three-steal effort, followed by Vickers’ six points, five points courtesy of Rhodes, and team-leading rebounding showings from Bourell (11 rebounds, three points) and Williams (five rebounds, two points).

“Tonight we were a little slower than I expected us to come out,” Durdan said, “but we executed the entire game. ... I thought we did a good job on defense, closing out on their shooters and, I think, keeping [Henry-Senachwine] under what they normally average.”