Girls basketball: Sterling surges in third quarter, but falls short against Galesburg in 3A regional semifinal

DIXON – The Sterling Golden Warriors ended their season Tuesday night in a Class 3A Dixon Regional semifinal game at Lancaster Gym, falling 54-32 to the Galesburg Silver Streaks.

Although they grabbed some momentum in the third quarter and drew as close as seven points, they couldn’t sustain it for the last eight minutes, as No. 2 seed Galesburg closed the game with a 21-6 run.

The Silver Streaks (24-7) built a 14-5 lead in the opening period, as junior guard Kiarra Kilgore scored nine points, including the first seven of a 7-2 run.

Because of the slow start, Sterling was forced to play from behind for the entire game.

“We just kind of came out slow. Our energy was a little bit low,” Sterling sophomore point guard Delali Amankwa said. “And it’s obviously not somewhere we usually play, so we were just getting used to the floor. By the time the first quarter was over, we realized, ‘OK, need to come out with more energy.’”

“I think we struggled to rebound a little bit in the first quarter, I think we gave up too many second chances for them, and I just think we were a step slow on defense,” Sterling coach Taylor Jackson said. “And that’s something we need to be better at, especially going into next year.”

Sterling (3-25) got within 16-10 in the second quarter after Olivia Turner stole a bobbled defensive rebound and completed a three-point play, and Olivia Melcher converted a layup with 6:30 to play. But the Silver Streaks surged in the last two minutes. Alexis Edgerson buried a right-wing 3 for a 21-12 lead just under the two-minute mark, then Addy McLaughlin hit two free throws with 1.6 seconds left, building a 24-14 advantage at the half.

In the third quarter, Sterling outscored Galesburg 12-9. Down 27-14 in the first two minutes, the Warriors came back with a 12-6 run over the next six minutes. Amankwa hit a running short-range jumper to start it off, then made the first of two free throws, before Turner finished a tough layup in traffic to cut it 29-19 with 2:46 remaining. An Amankwa three-point play followed by a Turner short-range jumper made it 31-24.

A Juniper Schwartzman layup pushed the Galesburg lead back to nine with just over a minute left, but a Melcher layup off an Amankwa inbounds pass returned the margin to seven points, 33-26, in the last 15 seconds.

“We took more time on offense instead of trying to force shots,” Amankwa said of the Sterling surge. “So we got good open shots, and played our game, played with energy. We had nothing to lose, so we laid all of it on the floor.”

The Silver Streaks closed the game with a 21-6 fourth-quarter run.

Edgerson hit a left-wing 3 in the first 52 seconds, then Kilgore hit deep from a similar spot barely 30 seconds later, extending the lead to 39-26. After a Madison Austin layup, Kilgore converted a three-point play, making it 42-28 Silver Streaks with less than six minutes remaining.

Kathryn Rowzee and Kirra Gibson got two quick layups to fall less than 30 seconds apart to draw Sterling within 42-32 with 4:49 to play, but Galesburg answered with a 12-0 run to finish the game.

“I think that’s a credit to their team and who they are, and the fact that they’re the No. 2 seed in the region,” Jackson said. “I think they have the ability to do that, and we weren’t able to answer at that point, and that’s just something that we give credit to them for.”

Turner led the Warriors with 10 points, four rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block. Amankwa added eight points, four assists, three rebounds and one steal, and Austin tallied four points and 10 rebounds. Melcher and Kirra Gibson recorded four points and three rebounds each; Melcher had two steals and Gibson had one.

Kilgore paced the Silver Streaks with 17 points, four rebounds, five assists and one block, Edgerson totaled 13 points, two rebounds and two steals, and Antonia Kisler chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.