Reed-Custer upsets top-seeded Coal City

COAL CITY – After a 20-point loss when the two teams first met Jan. 10, Reed-Custer girls basketball coach Shelby Zwolinski saw her Comets put up a much closer fight in a three-point loss against Illinois Central Eight Conference rival Coal City on Feb. 6.

And when it mattered most, in the Class 2A Coal City Regional semifinals Tuesday night, the Comets made yet another leap against their Coalers, earning an upset of the subsectional’s No. 1 seed with a 48-33 victory.

“It was awesome,” Zwolinski said. “Just seeing the emotions on every single one of my girls’ faces walking through the lines and in the locker room, it’s just so exciting. ... ”We played our game of basketball. We didn’t have to do anything crazy, just played simple, made easy passes, just played our game.

Reed-Custer (14-15) advanced to Thursday’s championship game against Joliet Catholic Academy at 7 p.m. The Coalers' season ended with a 21-10 record.

The Comets led for almost the entire first half, with the Coalers going on a 7-0 run to tie it at 19 at the break. But as Coal City standout guard Kylee Kennell went to the bench early in the third quarter with her fourth foul, Reed-Custer grew its lead back to double digits by the end of the quarter, never letting it shrink to single digits in the fourth.

Reed-Custer was powered by a game-high 22 points from Alyssa Wollenzein, who also had three rebounds and four steals. Gwen Stewart was a rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine boards. Leah Grace and Morgan Toler each had six points.

As exuberant as they were after their victory Tuesday, Zwolinski said the Comets know they still have to knock off a capable Angels squad Thursday if they want to earn any kind of postseason hardware.

“Yes, we’re all about celebrating, but we have more work to do,” Zwolinski said. “That starts with watching the game after us and then getting our stuff done at practice tomorrow so we can be just as competitive on Thursday.”

Joliet Catholic 36, Wilmington 33: Throughout the regular season, the Joliet Catholic girls basketball team suffered through some tough losses. Of course, that will happen when you combine the fact that JCA is a young team and that the East Suburban Catholic Conference features such powerhouse programs as Benet, Nazareth, Marian Catholic and Marist, to name a few.

Those trials by fire in the regular season, which resulted in the Angels entering Tuesday night’s Class 2A Coal City Regional semifinal against Wilmington with a 6-25 record, came in handy as playoff preparation. JCA advanced to Thursday night’s title game against Reed-Custer with a 36-33 win over the Wildcats in a game that looked like it was all Angels until a second-half Wilmington push.

“Give credit to Wilmington,” Joliet Catholic coach Matt Adler said. “They continued to fight hard. That’s playoff basketball, and the schedule we played all year helped prepare us for this.”

The Angels used defense and rebounding to control the first half. Abby Dulinsky scored five of the team’s' seven points in the first quarter on her way to a game-high 20, and the defense did not allow Wilmington to score until a basket by Sami Liaromatis, who led the Wildcats with 14 points, with 1:35 to play in the first.

JCA carried a 7-2 lead into the second quarter and extended it to 17-6 at halftime behind five more points from Dulinsky, three from Emma Birsa, who finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds, and two from Allison Lesters.

Wilmington, which finished with a 20-10 record, got its offense going midway through the third quarter. Trailing 23-13, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run to tie it as Liaromatis scored six of those points and Alaina Clark and Nina Egezio each scored on a putback basket.

JCA got the lead back on a free throw by Birsa, but Wilmington got a pair of free throws by Melia Hincherick to give her team its first lead, 25-24. JCA’s Brenna Zafra scored on a nifty reverse layup late in the third and Dulinsky capped the period with a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left, sending JCA into the fourth with a 28-25 lead.

The Wildcats' Skylar Rossow-Knight tied it with a 3-pointer to start the fourth. After a basket by Dulinsky, Hincherick made 3 of 4 free throws to give Wilmington a 31-30 lead before a basket by Liaromatis put the Wildcats ahead 33-30 with just over 2:00 to play.

JCA began its rally with a pair of free throws by Birsa at the 1:55 mark, then took the lead, 34-33, on a basket by Dulinsky with 51.6 seconds remaining. Wilmington’s next shot attempt missed and Dulinsky grabbed the rebound, getting fouled with 5.9 seconds left. She sank both free throws to ice the game for the Angels.

For the Wildcats, their 20-10 record locked up the program’s second 20-win season, tying the 1979-80 team for the most wins in a season in school history.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Wildcats coach Eric Dillion said. “This senior group really put in so much hard work and dedication throughout the years, and they can leave knowing that they directly impacted one of the best seasons in Wilmington High School history with 20 wins.

“We all grew together in so many ways and I really couldn’t have asked for a better group. I will always remember this group as a group of girls that realized that playing together was the best way to play. The selflessness was continuously on display on the court, and it was a beautiful thing to watch.”