Havana speeds up Unity girls to pull off upset in Class 1A regional championship game

HAVANA, Ill. — The style the Unity girls basketball team prefers to play was a mirror image of how they were defended on Thursday.

“We speed people up a lot, and tonight, we got sped up,” Mustangs coach Brad Begeman said.

Havana, ranked No. 9 in the final Associated Press Class 1A poll, forced 15 turnovers in the second half and used a fourth-quarter surge to upend Unity 55-50 in the championship game of the Class 1A Havana Regional.

The Ducks (29-4) advance to Tuesday’s sectional at Abingdon. The Mustangs, ranked No. 5 in the final Class 1A poll, end their season with a 29-4 record.

“We just did some silly and uncharacteristic things, but that’s what can happen in the postseason,” Begeman said. “Anybody who has been around a while has seen it and gone through it. The teams that survive and advance get a few things to bounce their way.”

The first half was back and forth. Unity (29-4) led 16-13 after one quarter, but Havana bounced back to take a 25-23 advantage at halftime. Despite the slim deficit, Begeman was far from comfortable.

“We were down two at half, and I was surprised we were only down two,” he said.

The Mustangs rallied in the third quarter, converting seven of eight free throws to take a 37-32 lead into the fourth quarter. However, the Ducks switched to full-court man-to-man pressure and outscored Unity 23-13 in the final frame. Unity only scored three field goals in the fourth quarter, while Havana made 11 of 13 free throws to seal the deal. 

The Ducks were led by Taryn Wickman, who had a game-high 21 points and made five of six free throws down the stretch.

“We gave them a shot of momentum and let their crowd get into it, and they started to feed off that,” Begeman said. “We didn’t rotate on defense a few times and gave them a couple easy layups.”

Kyra Carothers led the Mustangs with 16 points, and Kylee Barry added 13 points before fouling out in the final quarter. Ashlyn Arnsman, Unity’s leading scorer this season and a Quincy University signee, was held to just eight points. She also contributed six rebounds and three blocks. 

“It was two good teams just battling it out,” Begeman said. “We knew we were going to create a couple mismatches for them, but we also knew it was going to create a couple for us, and that’s kind of what happened in the end. We were struggling with who we were matched up with on some height and size when we were subbing and trying to keep them off the boards.”

The Mustangs established a single-season school record for victories, but they finish absent of any postseason hardware. They graduate four seniors, all starters.

“I told them there’s no good speech at the end of a game like that,” Begeman said. “I told them not to look back with any regrets. They played their butts off and worked hard every day in practice. They were a great group and did a lot for our program. Our program is going to miss (the seniors). We made a lot of memories this year. 

“It just wasn’t our night.”