Stillman Valley pulls away to slip past Sterling in semifinal

DIXON – After a nip-and-tuck first three quarters, Sterling just couldn’t keep up with Stillman Valley over the final four minutes of their Dixon Holiday Classic semifinal Friday evening.

The Cardinals (14-0) pulled away down the stretch at Lancaster Gym, notching a 47-37 victory to advance to Saturday’s title game against BNC rival Byron. The Golden Warriors (12-2) will take on Rock River rival Dixon in the third-place game.

“I thought our defense in the first 12 minutes was probably the best defense we’ve played all year,” Sterling coach Taylor Jackson said. “We need that to be 32 minutes, and we need to be a little bit more productive offensively.”

[ Photos from Sterling vs. Stillman Valley girls basketball ]

Stillman Valley closed the final 4:24 with an 11-2 run, as senior standout Taylor Davidson scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter to reach the 2,000-point plateau for her career.

“I’m going to be honest, I had no idea how many points I had, didn’t even think it was close to 20, but I got it, so I was very surprised,” said Davidson, who came into the game with 1,978 points in her four-year varsity career. “I’m just really grateful because of the way we kind of came together in the end, that really was what helped me get there. I owe it all to my teammates and the way they pass it to me, and that game showed it right there.”

The Warriors led 13-6 just 31 seconds into the second quarter after baskets by Madison Austin and Jossy James. But Lillian Green scored in transition, then Davidson nailed a deep 3 to get the Cardinals’ offense going.

Brooke Jordal added a 3 and Davidson went coast-to-coast for a layup in the final minute of the half, then started the second half with another strong drive to the basket for an 18-13 Stilman lead just nine seconds into the third quarter.

Sterling tied it at 18, 20 and 22, then Austin’s three-point play put the Warriors back in front at 25-24. Jae James’ transition layup made it 27-26 with 1:10 to go in the third, but that was the Warriors’ last lead.

Davidson hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds left in the period, then hit a pull-up jumper before Dailene Wade’s putback pushed the lead to 32-27 less than a minute into the fourth. Jossy James nailed a 3, then Jae James hit a scoop shot in the lane and nailed a 3 with 5:44 to get Sterling within 36-35.

But Jae James left soon after with a bloody nose after getting hit in the face while playing defense, and the Warriors struggled down the stretch.

“I thought Jae played really well up to that point, and we lose a lot of our energy and enthusiasm when she goes off the court, so that was a tough one for us,” Jackson said. “We needed some girls to pick it up at that point, and we just struggled to do that tonight. We stopped really being able to or trying to score, and they were able to go a little bit harder at the rim and finish some shots that we weren’t able to.”

Wade scored in the post, then Davidson drove to the basket for two layups – converting a three-point play on one of them – and hit a pair of free throws in a span of 2:08 to stretch the Stillman lead to 45-35 with 2:16 to play.

“We played great defense the whole game, but what changed was on the offensive end,” Davidson said. “We kind of found our rhythm and the way we had to work against their pressure defense, because they were crashing every time we drove, so we figured out how to dish it out to each other and stay within the flow of our offense.”

Davidson added five rebounds, three assists and a block to her 22 points, and Wade scored all nine of her points after halftime while also grabbing eight rebounds and a steal for the Cardinals. Jordal added seven points and an assist, Joslyn Nanni had five points and two rebounds, and Green chipped in four points, nine rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.

Jossy James and Austin each scored 12 points to pace Sterling, with Austin adding seven rebounds and an assist, and James chipping in four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Jae James had seven points, four rebounds and two assists, and Delali Amankwa (7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) and Nia Harris (5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist) both scored three points.