Phillips, Hinckley finish off Rosary

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:52AM

Kaitlin Phillips came up huge for the Hinckley-Big Rock girls basketball team Saturday against Rosary.

The junior guard scored eight of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, leading her team to a 47-38 nonconference win at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.

"(Phillips) bailed us out on a few occasions when we needed it," H-BR coach Greg Burks said. "When you have someone who can handle the basketball against pressure like that, it makes things that much easier. If you don't have strong guard play against good pressure man defense like that, you are done before the game even starts. She had a nice game."

Right after Rosary (5-12) reduced H-BR's lead to 41-37 after Rachel Rivera's conventional three-point play with 4:19 left in the game, Phillips went on a personal 6-0 run. That gave her team its first and only double-digit lead of the game (47-37) with 1:03 remaining.

Prior to that, H-BR's largest lead of the game was 10-2 early in the first quarter. Rosary was able to tie the game at 18, 20 and 22 before leading 25-24 at the break, thanks to a three-pointer from Courtney Bila.

Rosary's final lead was 32-31 after a bucket from Breann Maryanski with 2:17 left in the third. Phillips capped that quarter with a three-pointer and basket at the buzzer.

"At halftime, we were down by one, and our coaches said the first three minutes of the third quarter will determine how the fourth quarter ends, so we knew we really needed to step it up and make shots in the fourth quarter," Phillips said.

"Phillips was hitting her shots, and we weren't doing the best job defending her," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "She's a good player. That's why they are back-to-back (Class 1A) defending state champs ... but we were right with them. The game just got away in the fourth quarter."

In addition to Phillips, Tess Godhardt scored 17 points for H-BR, which improved to 17-1 overall.

Rosary, which was coming off a huge win against St. Edward Friday, was led by Brenda Rocha's 10 points and six rebounds.

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