BELLEVILLE – Freshman Sydney Harris’ final three points in the Edwardsville IHSA Class 4A sectional semifinal game against O’Fallon Tuesday evening at the Belleville West gym were the game changer.
Harris’ baseline three-pointer with 9.1 seconds remaining in regulation time lifted the Tigers to a 48-46 win over the Panthers, which allowed Edwardsville to advance to the Normal Community West sectional final Thursday night against Rock Island. Harris finished with four points in the contest. The Tigers and Rocks will meet up for the fifth consecutive year, with the Tigers having won all four previous meetings.
For Harris to hit the game-winning shot was an incredible feeling for her.
“Yeah, it felt good, just seeing all my teammates and coaches up and down on the bench is the best feeling,” Harris said in a postgame interview, “especially knowing it’s not just a regular season game, knowing you’re one step closer to state, and super-sectionals.”
Harris felt very good following the game and credited her teammates with helping the Tigers early on.
“I struggled early in the game, but I had my other teammates, Jaylen (Townsend), Maddie (Stephen) and Que (Love), everybody contributing early in the game, and that’s what matters, because if they hadn’t hit their early-game shots, we wouldn’t have been in it at the end,” she said.
Harris described her game-winner as getting a good pass from Love and knowing the shot felt good coming out of her hands.
“It was a little bounce pass from Que,” Harris said, “defense hit it. I knew that time was clocking down, and I had to get it up. It was ugly, but it felt good coming out of my hands, so that’s all that matters. It went in.”
The Tigers will be facing a good team in Rock Island and Brea Bain, one of the state’s best players who recently signed with South Carolina. Harris feels good about her team’s opportunity.
“Our chances are high,” Harris said. “We’ve been playing very well as a team overall. We get up, then we let the team come back, but we’ve just got to get that fight in us where we keep the lead the whole time. Their team is good. It kind of stinks we only have one day to prepare, but I think we’re pretty capable of doing that.”
