River Ridge sectional winner vs. Somanauk sectional winner - 6 pm
Forreston Eliminates Missiles
By Craig Lang
Prairie Advocate Sports
The Forreston Cardinals used a big second and fourth quarter advantage to take the game from the Milledgeville Missiles on Tuesday evening at the Fulton Regional 62-43. Milledgeville played even with Forreston through the first quarter with the game tied at ten. The Cardinals held the Missiles to eight second quarter points while putting up sixteen of their own. The third quarter was also even with both teams adding fourteen points. The final period saw the Cardinals pull away outscoring Milledgeville twenty two to eleven.
Jon Watkins and Kody Michael paced Forreston, each scoring seventeen points. For Milledgeville, Kurt Landis and Carrigan Hunter each scored thirteen points.
Forreston-10-16-14-22-62
Milledgeville-10-8-14-11-43
Forreston: Bagley 1 0-1 2; Johnson 4 0-0 9; Kubly 2 1-2 5; Michael 7 3-5 17; Nelson 0 2-2 2; Osterloo 1 1-2 3; Scott 1 0-0 3; Stuckenberg 1 2-2 4; Watkins 4 6-8 17
3 Point Field Goals: Forreston: 5 (Watkins 3, Johnson 1, Scott 1)
Milledgeville: 4 (Feltenz 2, Hunter 1, Landis 1)
Fouled Out: Milledgeville: 2 (Landis, Neubauer)
Cougars Take Fulton Regional Championship!
Cougars Escape With A Win
By Craig Lang
Prairie Advocate Sports
A tale of two halves, the first one not so good the second one was just good enough for the Eastland Cougars to escape Fulton with a hard fought 51-48 victory to advance them to the championship game of the Fulton regional.
Despite a first half of poor shooting, a porous defense and the inability to make a free throw, the Cougars managed to pick it up in the second half to take the win. The Steamers came ready to play and showed it in the first two quarters. The Cougars made some halftime adjustments and came out in the third with a full court pressing defense and held Fulton to eight third quarter points while putting up eighteen points of their own to tie the score at thirty six going into the final period.
Eastland outscored the Steamers fifteen to twelve to make the final margin of victory. Tony Dunlap led Eastland with nineteen points while Tyler Renkes led the Steamers with twenty.
3 Point Field Goals: Eastland: 4 (T. Dunlap 2, Glastetter 1, Lessman 1)
Fulton: 3 (T. Renkes 2, Tomman 1)
Fouled Out: Fulton: 1 (Hutton)
Eastland Advances To River Ridge Sectional
By Craig Lang
Prairie Advocate Sports
It was a battle of two NUIC powers and in the end the Cougars had just enough to survive a scrappy and talented Forreston team 50-45 to win the Fulton regional and advance to play Shabbona-Indian Creek in the River Ridge sectional Wednesday night.
The Cougars took the early lead but just couldn’t seem to pull away from the Cardinals. Forreston did manage a brief fourth quarter lead but Eastland came right back to reclaim the lead and the game. An eleven to two run by the Cougars down the stretch helped them put the game away.
Senior guard Tony Dunlap led all scorers in the game dropping in twenty seven points with Reid Lessman adding thirteen. Forreston’s Kody Michael led the Cardinals with fifteen points.
Forreston-10-13-12-10-45
Eastland-13-12-12-13-50
Forreston: Bronkema 2 0-0 4; Janicke 2 1-1 6; Johnson 3 0-0 6; Michael 7 1-4 15; Scott 2 2-5 6; Stuckenburg 0 1-2 1; Watkins 2 2-3 7
3 Point Field Goals: Forreston: 2 (Janicke 1, Watkins 1)
Eastland: 4 (T. Dunlap 3, Lessman 1)
Fouled Out: Forreston: 2 (Johnson, Stuckenburg)
Thunder Advances To Regional Final
By Craig Lang
Prairie Advocate Sports
West Carroll’s Eric Naples attempts to get through a couple of Morrison defenders during Wednesday night action in Mt. Carroll. Eric scored twenty points to lead the Thunder in the 77-64 victory. (PA photo/Craig Lang)
The Mustangs Patrick Wagenecht eyes the basket as the Thunder’s Tyler Brashaw defends. Patrick scored seven points in the West Carroll thirteen point win. (PA photo/Craig Lang)
The West Carroll Thunder played a tenacious bunch of Morrison Mustangs on Wednesday night in Mt. Carroll and escaped with the 77-64 victory. The Thunder took an eight point (19-11) first quarter lead into period two. The second frame was dead even with both teams putting sixteen points on the scoreboard. West Carroll took a thirty five to twenty seven lead into the locker room at the half.
The Thunder extended their lead a bit after three, outscoring Morrison thirteen to eleven. Morrison was able to make a few runs to cut the deficit to as little as three points but the Thunder were able to answer and take control. Morrison was forced to foul down the stretch and West Carroll hit thirteen of eighteen from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
Eric Naples led West Carroll (18-9) in scoring with twenty points, while teammates Nate Law added seventeen and Brady Edwards contributed sixteen. Travis McBride led Morrison in scoring with twenty seven points. The Mustangs end their season with a record of 20-11, 12-2 in the Three Rivers conference.
West Carroll Thunder’s Brady Edwards lets a jumper go during Friday evenings regional final against Rock Falls. The Rockets Matt Lauts goes for the block. Brady led the Thunder with eighteen points in the Rock Falls 74-62 win. (PA photo/Craig Lang)
The Rock Falls Rockets struck early and never really let West Carroll get within striking distance as the Rockets pulled off the 74-62 victory. Rock Falls built a double digit lead early in the game and combined with the Thunder’s early shooting woes proved to be too much.
The Rocket’s Jakob Junis lit up the nets hitting NBA range three pointers. Junis scored ten of his game high twenty eight in the first three minutes of the contest. The Rockets led by a dozen at the end of the first quarter and held that same margin going into the final period. The Thunder (19-10) were led in the game by Brady Edwards eighteen points. Teammate Nate Law added a dozen. The Rockets (19-10) were led by Junis’ twenty eight with Tevin Rumley adding seventeen.
3 Point Field Goals: West Carroll: 6 (Coleman 2, Prowant 2, Brashaw 1, Naples 1)
Rock Falls: 6 (Junis 4, Chappell 1, Linton 1)
Fouled Out:
Warriors Eliminate Pearl City
By Craig Lang
Prairie Advocate Sports
Woeful free throw shooting and Tyler McLane were too much for the Wolves to overcome as they fell to East Dubuque in regional play on Wednesday night in East Dubuque 52-37. Pearl City shot four for fourteen from the charity stripe and McLane lit up the nets for thirty points to put an end to the Wolves season. Even with the poor shooting Pearl City was able to cut the deficit to a mere three points a couple times in the fourth quarter only to have the Warriors come storming back and open up big leads again.
McLane paced East Dubuque (20-9) with thirty points. The Wolves (12-15) were led by Pierson Hull’s fourteen points and teammate Travis Schiess scored nine.
Class 1A Girls Basketball Supersectionals
At Elgin
Feb. 22
Hinckley Big Rock 57 Stockton 31
At Bloomington
Feb.22
Woodhull (AlWood) 70 Colfax (Ridgeview) 58
At Jacksonville
Feb. 22
Jacksonville Routt 54 Havana 47 (OT)
At Salem
Feb. 22
Cowden 54 Cobden 38
Class 2A Girls Basketball Supersectionals
At Rock Island
Feb. 22
Quincy Notre Dame 50 Byron 24
At Champaign
Feb. 22
Bloomington Central Catholic 57 Olney (East Richland) 44
At Salem
Feb. 22
Nashville 37 Piasa (Southwestern) 21
At Villa Park
Feb. 22
Kankakee McNamara 51 Melrose Park (Walther Lutheran) 38
1A Girls Basketball State Finals
Feb. 26
Jacksonville Routt 56 Cowden 36
Hinckley Big Rock 49 Woodhull (AlWood) 46 (OT)
Feb. 27
3rd Place - Woodhull (AlWood) 54 Cowden 44
Championship - Hinckley Big Rock 38 Jacksonville Routt 32
2A Girls Basketball State Finals
Feb. 26
Bloomington Central Catholic 67 Kankakee McNamara 40
Quincy Notre Dame 39 Nashville 33
Feb. 27
3rd Place - Nashville 44 Kankakee McNamara 35
Championship - Bloomington Central Catholic 64 Quincy Notre Dame 58
Northwest Upstate Illini Conference
Girl’s Basketball All Conference
West Division - 1st Team
Courtney Blair, Eastland Junior*, Whitney Kieffer, River Ridge/Scales Mound Junior*, Haley Magee, Stockton Senior*, Katie Jensen, Le-Win Junior, Kelsie Kluck, Pearl City Junior, Brooke Wheelwright, River Ridge/Scales Mound Senior, Keeley Schulz, Stockton Junior
2nd Team
Taylor Ruter, Eastland Junior, Miranda Muchow, Galena Senior, Layrnn Shumaker, Le-Win Junior, Jessica Brunner, Stockton Senior, Danielle Balbach, Warren Senior, Becca Fritz, West Carroll Senior
Honorable Mention
Annabelle Borota, Eastland Junior, Jessica Middendorf, Galena Senior, Amanda Heitkamp, Galena Junior, Simina Lewis, Galena Junior, Taylor Strohecker, Pearl City Senior, Gwen Scott, Pearl City Senior, Courtney Busch, River Ridge/Scales Mound Junior, Danica Balbach, Warren Sophomore
West Carroll Spring Sports Meeting
West Carroll High School will be holding an informational meeting for parents of the student-athletes who are out for girl’s track, boy’s track, softball and baseball this spring. The meeting will take place on Thursday, March 4th, at 7:00 p.m. at West Carroll High School in Savanna. At the meeting coaches will review program vision, rules, and practice schedules, and they will answer questions that parents have.
Correction
The championship game score from the West Carroll F/S tournament listed in last week’s sports pages was incorrect The score should have read: Pearl City 49 Oregon 34. The Prairie Advocate regrets any inconvenience this error may have caused.