Joliet West starts fast, fends off Romeoville comeback to earn thrilling senior night win

JOLIET – The girls basketball game between Joliet West and Romeoville on Thursday was really more like four games in one. A standard blowout, a big comeback, and a back-and-forth exchange in the third made up a wild affair.

In the end, the Tigers came out on top.

Joliet West was up 14 points after one quarter and was down one at halftime. The third quarter was a seesaw battle, but the Spartans ran out of steam late while the Tigers kept on going en route to a 70-54 victory.

It was senior night for Joliet West (5-21, 3-8) with seniors Khiana Tyler, Samantha Casanova and Makayla Chism being honored before the game.

“It’s a mix of emotions right now,” Chism said. “It’s bittersweet because a lot of the girls have played for a while. I’m sad I’m leaving, but getting to play with them one last time and getting a W on the home court for our last home game was big.”

The seniors put on quite the show early on, dominating the Spartans to the tune of a 22-8 lead after one quarter of play.

That lead grew to 29-14 early in the second when Kazaria Smith of Romeoville caught fire. She was a girl on a mission as the Spartans scored 16 consecutive points as part of a 19-2 run to close the quarter with both West points coming on free throws. After trailing by 15, the Spartans held a 33-31 edge at the midway point.

The third quarter saw nine ties or lead changes before the Tigers closed the third on an 8-2 run. That gave Joliet West a 52-47 advantage entering the final period of play.

The fourth quarter saw the Spartans cut the Joliet West lead to four points early, but a Chism three made it 56-48 midway through the quarter. Her layup to make it a 10-point game with three minutes to go wound up being the dagger to salvage the win.

“There were a lot of emotions,” Joliet West coach Breanna Blackmon said. “I told them...in the second half to seal the deal and our seniors stepped up and did that. Shoutout to Makayla Chism, our veteran senior who came out and dropped 23 (points) tonight. It was her night. Khiana Tyler and Samantha Casanova showed up tonight in a way that made this senior night very memorable.”

In addition to Chism’s 23 piece, Casanova put up 11, the same amount that Gabrielle Gavin had. Tyler was second with 13 points. In their final home game, all three seniors reached double figures in scoring.

Enough can’t be said about the performance of Smith for Romeoville (7-20, 3-11). When the Spartans were down big early, she willed them back, scoring 15 of the 19 points in the 19-2 run that gave them the halftime lead. She finished the night with 42 points, 14 in the third to keep the Spartans in it.

“My coaches and teammates just trusted me with the ball,” Smith said. “They helped me on offense and on defense with getting rebounds. Everyone’s contributing.”

Julissa Olague added seven points for Romeoville on a night when coach Devon Friend was out with an illness. Assistant Antonio Brooks stepped into the head coaches seat for the night and commended the team’s effort.

“I’m telling the girls it’s all about the process,” Brooks said. “We can’t win them all, but we want to put forth our best effort every single play. We’ve just been focusing on competing and effort, so that’s been our theme for the past few games. The girls fought a good fight to the end, we just came up a bit short.”