ALTON – For the third straight season, O’Fallon and Alton met in the IHSA Class 4A girls basketball sectional semifinals.
For the second straight year, the Redbirds defeated the Panthers, this time by a score of 46-32 Tuesday night at Alton High School.
Taking a look back, it was O’Fallon who ended Alton’s 31-2 season in the sectional semis two years ago when the Panthers hosted the sectional. O’Fallon won 49-43 and later went on to win its first-ever state title. O’Fallon also beat Alton in the regular season as the two teams split the Southwestern Conference title.
Since then, Alton has now won the last seven meetings with O’Fallon – four times in regular-season conference play, once in tournament action, and twice in the postseason.
The emotions of the rivalry have begun to simmer down; for now.
“I knew they were going to come out tough,” Alton head coach Deserea Howard said. “We both have good programs, but anytime you have to play a team over and over and over again, you have to try different things. I didn’t think they had any more punches, so kudos to him for coming out with a new defense. It gave me something more to prepare and get my girls ready for.”
O’Fallon’s Nakia McCottrell opened up the scoring with a basket to take what would be the Panthers’ only lead of the night.
Alton countered with an 11-2 run, a basket from Justice Haynes, a three-pointer from Kaylea Lacey, and three baskets from Talia Norman. The Redbirds led 11-5 after the first quarter.
Lacey knocked down two more triples and Kiyoko Proctor dropped in another to boost the lead to 24-13, forcing O’Fallon into a full timeout with 1:44 left in the half.
The Redbirds were in control 28-17 heading into the locker rooms.
The best O’Fallon could do was get it to within seven at 36-29 early on in the fourth quarter but never got any kind of momentum. O’Fallon’s season ends at 24-10.
The Panthers were led by Kennah Barringer with 10 points, Kayla Kalmer with seven, Josie Christopher and Haeli Tart each with six, and McCottrell with three.
“My girls executed our game plan exactly like how I wanted,” O’Fallon head coach Nick Knolhoff said. “We did a box-and-one on Kiyoko [Proctor] and then when she was opposite the ball it kind of switched to a hybrid zone where Kayla [Kalmer] kind of would back off. We just knew that there was no stopping that size in the post.”
There was a little resistance, but the dubbed ‘Twin Towers’ of Talia Norman and Jarius Powers still finished with 10 and nine points, respectively.
The talk of the night was Kaylea Lacey. She led all scorers with 17 points.
“We left [Aryanna] Anthony, and [Kaylea] Lacey, and Justice [Haynes] open all night long, and that was our game plan,” Knolhoff said. “We were going to stop the big three, well, slow them down, and I thought we did that. Kudos to Lacey for stepping up. She did it in the game against us last time too.”
Lacey put up 17 points the last time Alton played O’Fallon on Jan. 30 when she went 5-11 from the floor and 6-8 from the foul line.
Proctor added six points on Tuesday and Haynes had four.
“Just too many weapons for us to stop,” Knolhoff said. “We kind of picked our battles and we chose to kind of stop Kiyoko and double down in the post. Their other girls stepped up for them.”
“For us, I tell Kaylea, I tell all our girls, if they stop one, one’s got to step up. If they stop another, another’s got to step up. And tonight we kind of knew it was going to be Kaylea’s night,” Howard said.
“Most of the time when we play them, they don’t guard her, so she came through big. We tried to be patient and not just force it one on five all night, but Kaylea’s capable of that. She’s a top player in the state and she’s a pass-first guard. So a lot of people think she can’t do it, but Kaylea can do whatever Kaylea wants to do,” Howard added.
It was Lacey’s 16th double-digit scoring night this season. She’s averaging 9.1 points per game.
“At first we were like, okay, we’re going to run the game plan, but then I looked at her and said if they leave you open, go for it,” Howard said. “And from there, it was the Kaylea Show.”
Alton improves to 31-2 on the season and moves on to the sectional championship game on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. The top-seeded Redbirds will host that game.
“Obviously you want to be at home. You want your fans rooting you on and encouraging you,” Howard said. “And you want the girls to be comfortable, so it’s good. I’m glad we’re back here on Thursday and don’t have to make that drive.”
Making that drive instead will be No. 3-seeded Pekin. The Dragons upset top-seeded Normal Community 47-39 Tuesday night in the other sectional semifinal and come into Alton with a 20-13 record.
The winner of the Alton Sectional will play the winners of the Bolingbrook Sectional on Monday, March 3 at Illinois Wesleyan University in the super-sectionals.
