Cissna Park pulls away late for third-place finish at state

NORMAL − For the second time in less than four months, a Cissna Park team has earned a third-place finish at state.

On the same floor at CEFCU Arena in Normal where the volleyball team hoisted the third-place trophy in November, the girls basketball team, made up of many of the same players, claimed the bronze once again.

The Timberwolves pulled away in the final minute of what had been a back-and-forth contest with St. Edward, snapping a 44-44 tie by going 6 of 8 from the free-throw line to close out the Class 1A third-place game on a 6-0 run. With its 50-44 win, Cissna Park finished the season with a 31-6 record after reaching state for the first time since 2000.

Coming off a 55-39 loss to Carrollton in Thursday’s semifinals, its first since Feb. 1, head coach Anthony Videka said he was glad to see his team bounce back to finish the season strong and get rewarded for all its hard work.

“This is why we’re here,” he said. “It’s the girls sitting next to me and the girls behind me that put in the effort. A lot of people don’t see the effort that they put in in the weight room, that they put into getting shots up, that they put into setting their teammates up in volleyball, to hammering down the ball, to hitting a thing over a fence with another round object. These girls can do it all. It’s incredible.”

The Timberwolves held narrow leads of 13-12 at the end of the first quarter and 26-25 at halftime. The score was tied 34-34 by the end of the third.

After Cissna Park opened the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to go up 42-36, St. Edward came right back with an 8-2 run to tie things again at 44-44 with 2:46 left to play.

Both teams then went scoreless for more than two minutes before Cissna Park got the chance to close out the game from the free-throw line. Juniors Lauryn Hamrick and Addison, who led the team in scoring with 20 points and nine points respectively, each went 3 of 4 from the line in the final 41 seconds.

Hamrick made a pair with 13.5 seconds left to put Cissna Park up 48-44, all but icing the game. Lucht added a pair for good measure with 2.3 seconds left to get to the 50-44 final score.

Hamrick was 10 of 12 from the line in the game, and said she wanted to just keep that going with a chance to give the team some late breathing room.

“I’ve just got to put the ball in the hole and just make them foul me,” she said. “Once they foul me, I can make the shots.”

Hamrick added 16 rebounds, while Lucht had a team-high five steals. Ava Henrichs added eight points off the bench, and Josie Neukomm finished with six points and five assists.

Seniors Julia Edelman and Autumn Reutter both started in the final game of their careers. Edelman, who recorded a steal and two assists in the game, said it was a great way to go out.

“It’s bittersweet, obviously, but there’s no family that I’d rather play with,” she said. “They’ve honestly just made it the best four years I could ask for, and it’s just really something special that I’ll never forget.”

For St. Edward, the season came to an end at 26-12. Just two years removed from a 7-25 season, the Green Wave were able to wrap things up at state.

“We just have to be appreciative of the fact that we got to end the season this way,” head coach Michelle Dawson said. “There’s a lot of teams that went home two or three weeks ago. We have to appreciate the extra time we had with each other.”

Sophomores Savannah Lynch and Layne Dawson led the Green Wave with 18 and 11 points, respectively. Junior Jordin Sauls added six points.

As the basketball offseason begins for both teams, Cissna Park can look forward to bringing nearly all of its team back next year.

“Obviously, on paper we have a lot of people coming back, but we are really going to miss these two seniors,” Lucht said. “I think we’re going to celebrate this one for a while, go to our next sports and get to working over the summer, and hopefully be back here.”

As exciting as the past few years have been for the program, with a large returning class heading into next year and some more talented players on the way, Videka said the future looks promising, as well.

“We’re going to live in this moment and worry about the future later, but it’s definitely a bright future,” he said. “Our junior high girls, seventh and eighth grade, made it to state, too, so we’ve got some special groups coming, but no guarantees of getting back here. We’re going to look to the future tomorrow but enjoy today.”