Bishop McNamara, Watseka-Milford set to meet in sectional finals

HERSCHER – Through the first half of Tuesday’s IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal between the Bishop McNamara and Seneca girls basketball teams, it looked like a thrilling finish was in store for a game that saw the two teams knotted at the end of the first quarter (5-5) and halftime (18-18).

But out of the gate in the second half, it was McNamara (26-7) who forced three Seneca turnovers in the first minute, kickstarting a 6-0 run in the first 60 seconds that eventually became a 14-2 run, propelling McNamara past Seneca (25-9) 51-30 to put the program in its first sectional championship game since 2019.

“I just told them we’ve gotta play our game,” McNamara head coach Khadaizha Sanders said. “We’ve gotta calm down, and it all starts on the defensive end. We turned it up defensively, and that was all she wrote after that.”

Held to just five points on 2-for-8 shooting in the first half, McNamara’s leading scorer, Trinity Davis, tallied 15 second-half points to total a game-high 20 points. Davis and fellow senior Leigha Brown each had a pair of steals that became assists to the other one as part of that game-changing third quarter.

As she absorbed Sanders' halftime speech, she said she realized she had to pick it up on both ends of the floor if she wanted to guarantee her prep career would continue.

“It was a very close game, and I feel like I wasn’t really contributing with the scoring and that’s why it was so close,” Davis said. “In the third quarter I had to step it up, realizing it could be my last game.”

Graysen Provance’s bucket with 1:42 left in the third put an end to the McNamara run and cut Seneca’s deficit back to 10 points at 32-22, but by then, the damage was done. Head coach Josh Myers thought his team started the game off well enough to win, but couldn’t answer McNamara’s mighty push to open the third.

“We took a lot of their stuff away,” Myers said. “Their players are tall and they can get where they need to be, but I thought we did a really good job of sinking in. I think we got a little tired probably, and when shots don’t fall, they get some loose ball runouts and easy baskets, all the sudden you’re down 10, and it just gets bigger and bigger.”

Davis added four steals and a pair of assists and rebounds apiece to her game-high 20 points for one-seed McNamara. Sophomore forward Trinitee Thompson notched a double-double, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow sophomore post Jaide Burse had seven points and eight boards while Brown did a bit of everything with six points and rebounds apiece and four assists and steals apiece.

Provance led two-seed Seneca with 11 points, three boards and an assist. Alyssa Zellers added seven points and four rebounds. Tessa Krull had seven points and 10 rebounds.

Watseka-Milford rides hot start to sectional semis win over Reed-Custer

As the final pregame seconds counted off the warmup clock of Tuesday’s matinee between Watseka-Milford and Reed-Custer, Warriors senior forward Megan Martin said head coach Barry Bauer that they needed to get off to a hot start and make their mark early on.

It’s safe to say that message was received loud and clear.

Powered by a roaring 14-0 start, Watseka-Milford never again let the Comets back within single digits, giving the top-seeded Warriors a 50-24 win over the No. 7 Comets.

Watseka-Milford improved to 28-4 and advanced to Thursday’s championship tilt with McNamara at 6 p.m. back in Herscher. Reed-Custer’s season ended at 15-16.

“I think we all understood the assignment,” Martin said. “We were ready for the win. Whatever it takes basically."

Martin nearly outscored the Comets on her own, putting up a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds and two assists. Bauer credited the team’s abundant of backcourt talent for all being able to make the perfect pass into the post to allow Martin’s big night.

“The post pass tonight was so good that I think it created the move for her, because they were doubling (Martin) and she was still getting shots up,” Bauer said. It was a great start by Megan, but also our ball movement and post entry passes were good.

The Warriors, also got 10 points and eight rebounds from Kami Muehling and eight points from Noelle Schroeder to lead that deep backcourt. They’re now back in the Class 2A field of 16 for the fourth year in a row and seventh time since Bauer took over in 2014. But the program is still looking for its first sectional title not just under Bauer, but ever. That’s what they’ll look to accomplish next on Thursday.

“It took a lot of hard work to get back here and we’re happy to get back here,” Bauer said. But we really want to win one more."

The Comets were led by Alyssa Wollenzein’s nine points, three rebounds and two assists. Morgan Toler and Leah Grace each added seven points. Although Tuesday wasn’t the result they were hoping for, there’s no denying it’s been a banner year for Reed-Custer girls basketball.

In head coach Shelby Zwolinski’s fifth season leading the program, they not only won their first regional game during her tenure last week, but won three regional games to give the program its first regional plaque since 2006.

With plenty of talent returning, as three-year players Grace and Cameron Wallace were the team’s only seniors, Zwolinksi is proud of the progress the program has made, with those two seniors leading the charge.

“Who would have thought a seven seed would be playing in a sectional game? Not many,” Zwolinski said. “We hadn’t won a regional game in the first four years I’d been here, and now we’ve won three and broke a 19-year drought without a regional title. We did it, so we have to be proud of that.”