MOOSEHEART, IL, Feb. 5 - When the girls' basketball team from the Illinois Math & Science Academy made a strong fourth-quarter surge, Mooseheart found itself in serious gut-check time. What sort of response would the Lady Ramblers have in their final home game of the regular season?
In the end, Senior Night for Kristin Thornburg and Tatanisha Johnson closed happily as Mooseheart (11-11) found the right combinations and sealed a 45-41 victory.
"It was Senior Night and we got our seniors in and out of the lineup and gave them some opportunities to get shots and to play," Mooseheart coach Bryan Miller said. "We had some of our bench players hold, come on and make clutch lay-ups in the game."
Isolina Rossi orchestrated IMSA's rally. The senior scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half and had 10 points in the fourth quarter. And when she scored with 1:28 to go, the Titans only trailed 43-39. Mooseheart answered through its own big gun - Santana Sanchez - with just over 1 minute to play. Sanchez scored a game-high 22 points for the Ramblers.
"That's really good going into regionals and with her coming off a bad game the night before," Miller said.
Sanchez scored six points in Thursday's 53-32 loss at Westminster Christian.
Rossi scored again with 42 seconds left, but the Ramblers were able to close out the contest.
"When they made that push, it was a matter of us making good passes and staying disciplined and playing good fundamental basketball," Miller said.
The Ramblers led through the first quarter though the Titans managed a pair of one-point leads in the second quarter. Mooseheart outscored IMSA 11-2 in the final 2:08 of the half and took a 23-17 lead into the second half. Mooseheart never trailed the rest of the way and twice had eight-point leads, though each time IMSA found a way to get back into the game.
Mooseheart heads back into action against Westminster Christian on Monday, Feb. 8, in the opening round of the Indian Creek Class 1A Regional. Game time is 6 p.m.
"We have one practice before that game, and we're going to try not to make it our last," Miller said.
Stats |
| Rossi |
10 |
1 |
1 |
21 |
Bond |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
| Smick |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Larrabee |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Duvall |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Munro |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Fokum |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
Schultz |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Edgers |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
19 |
3 |
5 |
41 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Thornburg |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Stryker |
3 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
Samuelson |
4 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
Sanchez |
10 |
1 |
2 |
22 |
| Johnson |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Patton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Dillon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Molina |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
19 |
6 |
10 |
45 |
Scoring |
IMSA |
6 |
11 |
10 |
14 |
- |
41 |
Mooseheart |
9 |
14 |
10 |
12 |
- |
45 |
3-point goals :
IMSA: None.
Mooseheart: Sanchez 1.
Fouled out: None.
| 
