By Craig Lang, Prairie Advocate Sports

Lady Wildcats Finish Second in State

Take 58-48 Semi-final Win Over the Raiders

A sea of green awaited visitors as they entered Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University. The first game of the day on Friday matched up the Hume Shiloh Raiders against the Winchester West Central Lady Cougars. The 30-3 Lady Cougars took the contest by a 48-33 score to set up the day’s second game between the River Ridge/Scales Mound Lady Wildcats and the Colfax Ridgeview Mustangs.

The Lady Wildcats took control from the opening tip off and built a 20-11 first quarter lead behind the hot shooting of All-Stater Whittney Kieffer, Jessie Albrecht and Kaitlyn Pleau and the rebounding of Pleau. The six foot forward was a vacuum cleaner on the glass, pulling down eight first half rebounds and feeding teammates for scores. The Lady Wildcats dominated the boards and scored easily as the took a 31-26 lead into the locker room at the half.

RR/SM used their pinpoint passes to get easy buckets and had little trouble figuring out a shorter Mustang team. The third quarter was more of the same for the Wildcats as they grew their lead, outscoring Ridgeview 17-6 in the quarter to take a 48-32 lead into the final period. Their lead grew to as much as twenty one points before both coaches emptied their benches and gave everyone on both teams a little playing time. A sixteen to ten fourth quarter advantage for the Mustangs wasn’t enough for them to claw their way back into the contest and the Lady Wildcats celebrated a 58-48 victory, sending them to Saturday afternoon’s championship game.

Kieffer ended the game with twenty three points on nine for ten shooting while converting all four of her free throws. Teammates Kaitlyn Pleau and Jessie Albrecht added twelve and eleven points each with Pleau pulling down a game high thirteen rebounds. Sarah Butler led the Mustangs with seventeen points with teammate Paige Nord adding a dozen.

Colfax Ridgeview=11-15-6-16-48

River Ridge/Scales Mound-20-11-17-10-58

Colfax Ridgeview: Butler 6 5-5 17, Gilbert 1 0-0 2; Jones 2 2-2 7; Nord 4 3-5 12; Voss 4 0-0 8; Weber 1 0-0 2

River Ridge/Scales Mound: Albrecht 5 0-0 11; Altfillisch 3 0-0 8; Busch 2 0-0 4; Kieffer 9 4-4 23; Pleau 5 2-3 12

3 Point Field Goals: Colfax Ridgeview: 2 (Jones 1, Nord 1)

River Ridge/Scales Mound: 4 (Altfillisch 2, Albrecht 1, Kieffer 1)

Fouled Out: Colfax Ridgeview: 1 (Nord)

Lady Widcats Come Up Short in Defense Dominated Championship Match

In a contest that started out looking good for the Lady Wildcats, the West Central Lady Cougars clawed their way all the way back to escape with the 29-26 victory and win the Class 1A state basketball championship.

The contest saw the Lady Wildcats jump out to a fast first quarter lead behind Whittney Kieffer’s eight points. River Ridge/Scales Mound took a 13-6 first quarter lead. Both defenses clamped down and there was very little offense on either end of the court from that point on.

A ton of missed shots and steals highlighted a very tough defensive contest from the second quarter until the final buzzer. The Lady Cougars held RR/SM to just two second quarter points while putting up five to cut into the Lady Wildcat lead. RR/SM still held a slim 15-11 lead going into the second half.

West Central managed to put up nine third quarter points to the Lady Wildcats six to cut River Ridge/Scales Mound lead to a single point at 21-20 going into the final period. West Central’s Cassidy Kaufmann converted two free throws after a Kieffer foul to give the Lady Cougars their first lead of the game at 22-21.

A jumper by Andrea Lietz made the score 24-21 but Courtney Busch countered with two free throws after being fouled by Ashlyn Jacquot to again cut the lead to a single point with just under a minute and a half to go. Two more free throws by Lady Cougar Tiffany King after a basket increased their lead to five points.

A three point play by Kieffer made the final score with eleven seconds left and an off balance three pointer by RR/SM’s Pleau fell short as time expired.

River Ridge/Scales Mound-13-2-6-5-26

Winchester West Central-6-5-9-9-29

River Ridge/Scales Mound:: Busch 1 2-2 4; Dubord 0 2-2 2; Kieffer 7 3-3 17; Pleau 1 1-2 3

Winchester West Central: Kaufmann 2 2-2 7; King 4 3-6 11; Lietz 1 2-2 4; Schaad 2 0-2 5; VanDeVelde 1 0-0 2

3 point Field Goals: Winchester West Central: 2 (Kaufmann 1, Schaad 1)

Fouled Out: Winchester West Central: 1 (Jacquot)

Class 1A Girls Basketball Super Sectional

At DeKalb

Feb. 21

River Ridge/Scales Mound 43 Hinckley-Big Rock 28

Class 1A State Tournament

At Redbird Arena, Normal

Feb. 25

Winchester (West Central) 48 Hume (Shiloh) 33

River Ridge/Scales Mound 58 Colfax (Ridgeview) 48

Feb 26

Third Place Game

Colfax (Ridgeview) 67 Hume (Shiloh) 66 (OT)

Championship Game

Winchester (West Central) 29 River Ridge/Scales Mound 26

Boys Basketball

Rams Top Mustangs

Morrison traveled to Riverdale on Monday night and came home on the short end of the 60-35 contest. The Rams jumped out to the twelve to ten first quarter lead and quickly extended that lead with a seventeen to six second quarter advantage. Riverdale continued their scoring attack, outscoring the Mustangs thirty one to nineteen in the second half to make the final margin of victory. Wes DeClercq led the Rams in scoring with a dozen points as Riverdale had eleven different players put up points. Dylon Smith led Morrison in scoring with twelve points.

Morrison-10-6-10-9-35

Riverdale-12-17-17-14-60

Morrison: Bird 1 2-3 4; Bos 2 0-0 4; Brands 2 0-0 4; Neighbour 0 2-2 2; Schaver 1 0-0 2; Smith 5 2-3 12; Tegeler 1 0-0 2; Volckmann 1 0-0 2; Weeks 1 0-0 3

Riverdale: Cooper 4 0-0 8; Davis 3 1-2 9; DeCook 3 0-0 7; DeClercq 4 4-6 12; B. Johnson 2 0-0 4; D. Johnson 1 0-0 2; Klavon 1 0-0 2; Maraden 1 0-0 2; Nimrick 3 0-0 6; Nitz 1 2-2 4; Richmond 1 2-2 4

3 Point Field Goals: Morrison: 1 (Weeks)

Riverdale: 3 (Davis 2, DeCook 1)

Fouled Out: None

Regionals

Eastland Advances At Forreston Regional

The Eastland Cougars looked like they were hitting on all cylinders on Wednesday evening in Forreston. The Cougars jumped out to an 18-5 first quarter lead and made it look easy, dispatching Milledgeville 67-30.

Eastland extended their lead to 37-11 and the half and led 54-16 going into the final quarter. The Cougars used a balance of timely scoring, great passing and a stifling defense to hold the Missiles in check. The Cougars had eleven different players put points on the scoreboard, led by Collin Macomber’s sixteen points with Tyler Giedd adding ten points. The Missiles were led by Kaleb Ebersole who scored ten points.

Milledgeville-5-6-5-14-30

Eastland-18-19-17-13-67

Milledgeville: Ebersole 3 2-2 10; Feltenz 2 0-0 6; Kness 1 0-1 2; Neubauer 2 5-6 9; Rahn 1 0-0 2; Wagenknecht 0 1-2 1

Eastland: Cassens 1 2-6 4; Dunlap 1 0-0 3; Giedd 3 2-2 10; Hansen 3 0-0 6; T. Hartman 3 3-7 9; Z. Hartman 2 0-0 4; Lessman 3 0-0 7; Macomber 8 0-2 16; Seferi 2 0-1 4; Walker 1 0-0 2; Wilhelms 1 0-0 2

3 Point Field Goals: Milledgeville: 4 (Ebersole 2, Feltenz 2)

Eastland: 4 (Giedd 2, Dunlap 1, Lessman 1)

Fouled Out: None

Cougars Top Prophetstown

Eastland used a large third quarter scoring surge to take control of the game and went on to the 67-44 victory over the Prophets at the Forreston regional on Thursday evening. The game started out close as the Cougars built an 18-13 first quarter lead. Both teams put eight points on the scoreboard in the second period to give Eastland a 26-21 half time lead.

The Cougars offense turned on the jets as they outscored Prophetstown 20-8 in the third quarter to build the 46-29 lead going into the final period. Eastland took the final frame by a margin of twenty one to fifteen to make the final margin of victory. Reid Lessman led the Cougars in scoring with sixteen points while Brad Dunlap added thirteen points. For the Prophets, Scott Matthews dropped in fifteen points with Sawyer Kuepker adding ten.

Eastland-18-8-20-21-67

Prophetstown-13-8-8-15-44

Eastland: Byers 4 0-2 8; Cassens 1 0-0 2; Dunlap 5 0-0 13; Giedd 2 7-8 11; Hansen 2 0-0 4; T. Hartman 1 4-6 6; Lesman 5 2-4 16; Macomber 3 1-6 7

Prophetstown: Green 1 0-0 2; Inskeep 0 1-2 1; Juhola 3 2-5 8; Kuepker 4 2-4 10; Matthews 5 2-2 15; Sommers 2 3-3 8

3 Point Field Goals: Eastland: 7 (Lessman 4, Dunlap 3)

Prophetstown: 4 (Matthews 3, Sommers 1)

Fouled Out: Prophetstown: 2 (Kuepker, Simmons)

Eastland Falls To Cardinals

It looked Saturday like the Eastland Cougars would get their revenge for the 27 point loss to Forreston earlier in the season. But, the Forreston Cardinals had other ideas as they fought back to win the championship of their own regional 48-46.

The Cougars took control from the opening tip, quickly jumping out to a 14-10 first quarter lead. Eastland extended that lead to 26-19 at the half, playing a tough defense and taking advantage of Forreston turnovers.

The Cardinals regrouped after the intermission to take a seventeen to twelve third quarter advantage, but still trailed by two points going into the final quarter. A twelve to two run with a little over four minutes to go in the third pulled them back into the contest.

The Cardinals tied the game on two Colton Scott free throws and Forreston managed to take a 40-38 lead on a Ryan Stukenberg lay up. Tanner Bronkema was then fouled after a lay up but missed the charity toss and Brad Dunlap hit a three to pull the Cougars within a point at 44-43 with a little over a minute left to play. Bronkema hit another inside shot and Dunlap another three to tie the contest and forty six each.

Colton Scott then hit a lay up that rolled around the rim before falling through with about three seconds left to play that proved to be the game winner. Bronkema and Scott led Forreston (23-5) with sixteen points apiece while the Cougars (26-3) were led by Tyler Giedd’s fourteen points with Collin Macomber adding thirteen. The Cardinals advance to the Freeport Aquin sectional where they meet East Dubuque Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Forreston-10-9-17-12-48

Eastland-14-12-12-8-46

Forreston: Bronkema 7 2-5 16; Michael 2 0-0 4; Scott 5 6-7 16; Stukenberg 1 0-0 2; Watkins 4 1-4 10

Eastland: Dunlap 3 0-0 8; Giedd 6 1-2 14; T. Hartman 0 1-2 1; Lessman 3 2-2 10; Macomber 2 9-12 13

3 Point Field Goals: Forreston: 1 (Watkins)

Eastland: 6 (Dunlap 2, Giedd 2, Lessman 2)

Fouled Out: Forreston: 1 (Michael)

Thunder Cruise Past Comets At Riverdale

West Carroll opened up a fifteen point first quarter lead enroute to the 66-46 win over Sterling Newman on Wednesday night at the Riverdale regional. The Thunder increased that lead to forty to twenty at the halftime intermission and led fifty five to thirty three going into the fourth quarter. West Carroll had three players score in double figures, led by Brady Edwards with nineteen and Tyler Brashaw and Tim Brehm adding eighteen apiece.

Thunder head coach Josh Knuth commented, “We played a solid game for most of the game tonight. I’m proud of how hard our guys played. We have to play very hard and handle Rock Falls pressure to have success on Friday.” Sterling Newman was led on the scoreboard by Logan Murray’s eleven points.

Sterling Newman-7-13-13-13-46

West Carroll-22-18-15-11-66

Sterling Newman: Blessman 5 0-2 10; Dewitt 0 1-2 1; Gassman 1 0-0 2; Hermes 1 0-0 2; Lee 3 0-0 8; Murray 4 3-4 11; Sunday 1 0-2 2; T. Wilson 4 2-4 10

West Carroll: Brashaw 7 1-1 18; Brehm 9 0-0 18; Edwards 7 5-6 19; LaShelle 1 0-0 3; Naples 4 0-0 8

3 Point Filed Goals: Sterling Newman: 2 (Lee 2)

West Carroll: 4 (Brashaw 3, LaShelle 1)

Fouled Out: None

Rockets End Thunder Season

It was a tale of two halves for the Rock Falls and West Carroll contest on Friday evening at the Riverdale regional championship game. The Thunder took an early 17-11 first quarter lead and took a 24-23 lead into the locker room at the half.

The second half was a different story as the Rockets outscored West Carroll fourteen to eight in the third quarter and twenty one to eleven to put the finishing touches on their 58-43 win. It was the Rockets tenacious defense that gave West Carroll fits in the final three quarters of the game. West Carroll committed only three first quarter turnovers but the Rockets forced the Thunder into twenty three turnovers with their aggressive one-three-one trapping defense.

Thunder fouls down the stretch led to charity tosses that were converted by Rock Falls to sew up the victory for the Rockets. Rock Falls shot twenty seven shots from the charity stripe compared to only four for the Thunder. West Carroll’s Tim Brehm led the Thunder with a dozen points.

Thunder head coach Josh Knuth commented, “ I’m so proud of out kids effort tonight even though things weren’t going our way. We kept battling right til the end. I’m just so proud of our attitude and effort. Our student section was great tonight and they helped us out a lot.”

West Carroll-17-7-8-11-43

Rock Falls-11-12-14-21-58

West Carroll: Brashaw 3 0-0 7; Brehm 6 0-0 12; Campbell 1 0-0 3; Coleman 1 0-1 3; Edwards 3 1-3 7; Krahn 2 0-0 4; Naples 3 0-0 7

Rock Falls: Armoska 8 3-8 19; Babcock 1 0-0 3; Brown 3 4-4 11; Euell 2 7-8 11; Linton 2 5-6 9; Nelson 2 0-0 5

3 Point Field Goals: West Carroll: 4 (Brashaw 1, Campbell 1, Coleman 1, Naples 1)

Rock Falls: 3 (Babcock 1, Brown 1, Nelson 1)

Fouled Out: West Carroll: 2 (Brehm, Edwards)

Class 1A Boys Basketball Regionals

At Forreston

Feb. 22

Erie 81 Polo 72

Feb. 23

Eastland 67 Milledgeville 30

Prophetstown 50 Fulton 46

Feb. 24

Forreston 60 Erie 37

Eastland 67 Prophetstown 44

Feb. 26

Forreston 48 Eastland 46

At River Ridge

Feb. 22

East Dubuque 65 Pearl City 47

River Ridge 44 Le-Win 34

Feb. 23

Stockton 51 Warren 32

Galena 44 Scales Mound 31

Feb. 24

East Dubuque 53 River Ridge 33

Stockton 63 Galena 45

Feb 26

East Dubuque 70 Stockton 61 (OT)

At Dakota

Feb. 22

Orangeville 57 Pecatonica 48

Feb 23

South Beloit 62 Rockford (Keith Country Day) 52

Durand 43 Dakota 40

Feb. 24

Freeport Aquin 72 Orangeville 57

South Beloit 71 Durand 54

Feb. 26

Freeport Aquin 70 South Beloit 56

Class 2A Boys Basketball Regionals

At Port Byron/Riverdale

Feb 21

Port Byron/Riverdale 60 Morrison 35

Feb. 22

Rock Falls 54 Port Byron/Riverdale 42

Feb 23

West Carroll 66 Sterling Newman 46

Feb. 25

Rock Falls 58 West Carroll 43

Freeport Aquin Sectional

March 1

1-Freeport Aquin vs. Shabbona Indian Creek-7:30 p.m.

March 2

2-East Dubuque vs. Forreston-7:30 p.m.

March 4

Game #1 winner vs. game #2 winner-7:30 p.m.

West Carroll Spring Sports Meeting

Thursday, March 3rd will be the date of an informational meeting for the parents of West Carroll High School students who are participating in 2011 spring sports. The meeting will have two sessions. Session 1 is at 6:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria and is a review of the athletic code for parents who did not attend the fall or winter sports parent meeting or watch the meeting video. Session 2 is at 7 p.m. and will be sport specific meetings for softball, baseball and track. The head coach in each respective sport will review the vision, team rules, schedule and other pertinent program details for the season. Athletes will not be able to participate in a game/event until parents have had contact with their coach.

West Carroll Winter Sports Awards

West Carroll High School will have its winter sports awards night on Tuesday, march 15th at West Carroll High School. The purpose of this event is to honor the girls basketball players, wrestlers, boys basketball players and basketball cheerleaders. The event begins at 7 p.m. After the awards are given, ice cream will be served.

Bowling League Results

Women’s Wednesday Night League

Feb. 23

1-Pruis Upholstery 27.5-8.5

2-Hilltop 22.5-13.5

3-Green & Clean 21.5-14.5

4-FAT Boy’s 20-16

5-Smith & Associates 16-20

6-KJ’s Bar & Grill 14.5-21.5

7- Ken Kophamer Realty 12-24

8-Goldstar FS 1-26

High Individual Game

Brenda Workman 254, Dana Nelson 214, Bette Wiebenga 207, Paulette Strating 201, Connie Helms 197

High Individual Series

Brenda Workman 673, Dana Nelson 591, Bette Wiebenga 551, Connie Helms 510, Paulette Strating 510, Karen Norman 497

Hilltop League

Feb. 25

1-Hilltop 21-11

2-Roger’s Roughriders 19-13

3-CAR Quest 18-14

4-Nelson Electric 17-15

5-DA BEERS 16-16

6- FAT Boy’s 14-18

7- Ridley Appraisals 12-20

8-AG Express 11-21

High Individual Game

Brian Drehmer 279, Eric Tegeler 256, Mike Arnold 243, Eddie Ruiz 236, Ryan Renkes 229

High Individual Series

Eddie Ruiz 673, Brian Drehmer 673, Mike Arnold 647, Mike Hamilton 633, Brian Oostenryk 623, Daryl Schroeder 613