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Girls Basketball: Marist tops host Hillcrest for tourney title
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 29, 2011 11:58PM
When it mattered the most in Thursday’s championship game at the Hillcrest Holiday Classic against the host Hawks, Marist hit its free throws.
Nine in a row at one point.
When the RedHawks did miss shots, they rebounded. And rebounded.
That was clutch, and it was the main reason that Marist emerged with a 67-62 victory and its third tournament title.
Leah Bolton emerged as the tourney MVP, her 27 points and nine rebounds leading the way for the No. 1 RedHawks (16-0). Claire Ryan and Asianna Bey added 14 points each.
No. 2 Hillcrest (13-1) hung tough behind Samirah Ali (21 points), Dana Gettis (14 points) and Shannise Heady (nine points).
Hillcrest went into the game without starting center Jahmia Phillips, who suffered a concussion during Wednesday’s action. Another Hawk, Karlisa Harris, suffered a hamstring issue late in the second quarter.
Still, Hillcrest led 37-34 early in the third period before a spate of errant three-point shots killed its momentum. Marist, though, made its own good fortune in the fourth quarter by working relentlessly around the basket. The RedHawks broke the last tie at 48-48 on a Bolton free throw and held the lead from there.
“We just had to do what we had to do to come out with the ‘W,’ ” Bolton said. “We’ve been having free throw contests every week, so we’ve been really prepared for our free throws to come in handy at that time of the game.”
Marist came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed behind Hillcrest.
“When they put us at the two seed we knew we had to work hard to get what we deserved,” Bolton said. “It just made everybody think about what we had to do in this tournament to come here and get the win tonight.”
Hillcrest didn’t look shorthanded during much of the contest, Ali in particular. The 5-foot-2 senior got many of the crowd’s biggest reactions to daring drives to the basket.
It was a never-give-up effort, to be sure.
“We tried not to,” Ali said. “But it seemed liked everything we thought wasn’t going to happen, happened. Foul trouble, everything.
“We could have hit a lot more shots … but Marist, they’re good.”
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