Girls Basketball: Hinckley-Big Rock rallies to claim regional title

Updated: February 10, 2012 11:50PM

Coming into Friday’s Class 1A Indian Creek Regional title game against rival Newark, Hinckley-Big Rock’s girls basketball team had won five consecutive regional titles.

After Friday’s thrilling 47-43 comeback win, coach Greg Burks ranked this one above any of the previous five.

The Royals saw their five-year hold on the Little Ten Conference tournament title slip away this season with a fourth-place finish, but they came back and won the regional title over Newark to advance to the Class 1A Varna Midland Sectional semifinals Tuesday.

“This one was real sweet,” Burks said. “I’m not trying to say the previous weren’t, but this one given what we’ve had to go through this year — losing some tough games — was great.”

It took a fourth-quarter comeback for the Royals (22-7) to win this regional title. Lauren Tollefson’s jumper to start the fourth quarter gave Newark (24-6) a 37-31 lead. H-BR followed that with a 7-0 run, capped by Katie Hollis’ three-point play, to take a 38-37 lead with 3:52 left. It was a see-saw affair from there.

The lead changed hands five times down the stretch with Hollis’ rebound putback with 1:36 left giving the Royals the lead for good at 44-43. Three free throws from Kaitlin Phillips sealed the deal in the final minutes.

“I’ve been in some pressure situations with some free throws lately,” said Phillips, who led the Royals with 21 points. “When you’re one-and-done, you’re in a situation where it’s all or nothing. Those definitely mean a lot more.”

The Royals looked as if they were going to cruise to the win early on. Phillips’ pull-up jumper in the second quarter staked H-BR to a 19-9 lead. But as is often the case in a game against rivals, Newark forged a comeback. The Norsemen finished the half on a 14-1 run to take a 23-20 lead into the break.

“I think a lot of it was our confidence level,” Newark coach Dale Skelton said. “We’re playing some young kids and it’s the first time they’ve really been in a pressure situation. Once we got to see that we can compete at that level, I think their confidence picked up and we started to gain more energy on the floor. With that came better shooting and things just turned around there.”

Tollefson led all scorers for Newark with 22 points. Hollis added 10 points for Hinckley-Big Rock.

Things get no easier for the Royals Tuesday, as the top-ranked team in the state in Class 1A, Annawan, comes calling in the sectional semifinals.

“We’ll head south and hope for the best,” Burks said. “I told the girls that there’s not 10 ladies I’d rather spend Valentine’s Day with on Tuesday, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to try to pull off an upset.”

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