Hornets show resilience, but inability to get over hump during comeback results in loss

CARTHAGE, Ill. — The Brown County girls basketball team could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but whenever the Hornets approached it Monday, it seemed to vanish.

The Hornets only trailed by more than six points for 30 seconds in the final 10 minutes and were never down by more than eight points in the second half against Sherrard in the Jerry Logan Shootout. However, they never leveled the score or took the lead during that span, and the Tigers prevailed 53-49 at the Illini West High School gym.

“It felt like we would get to that peak, and then we’d just go back down,” Hornets senior forward Ashlee Markert said. “It was just like we could never stay up on that peak.”

Hornets coach Dave Phelps felt equally frustrated on the sideline.

“In so many ways,” Phelps said.

The Hornets entered the fourth quarter trailing 39-34, cut that lead to 39-38 with 7:01 left and remained within five points until Tigers senior forward Violet Meskan made a floater from 10 feet to give Sherrard a 47-41 lead with 2:15 left.

“We had kids that stepped up and made big plays when they needed to,” Tigers coach Doug Swanson said. “It seemed like we were able to get a steal or a big rebound or knock down a shot or something like that every time we needed to.”

That lead grew to 51-43 when Rachael Fender converted a layup in transition off of a Hope Ingram missed 3-pointer and long rebound.

Two possessions later, Ingram turned a steal into a trip to the free-throw line when Adalynn Elsbury fouled her on a layup attempt with 24.8 seconds left. Ingram made the first foul shot then missed the second, but Kenzie Kassing snatched the offensive rebound and put the ball back up and in to trim the deficit to five.

Hornets senior guard Isabel Duarte forced a jump ball on the Tigers’ ensuing possession, giving the ball back to Brown County with 19.4 seconds left. Five seconds later, Kassing got fouled by Ellie Swanson and made the second of her two free throws.

Kassing fouled Meskan with 11.1 seconds left, and Meskan split her two foul shots to push the Tigers’ lead back to five. Fender fouled Ingram on the inbounds pass after the made free throw, and Ingram sank both free throws to get the Hornets within three with 10.4 seconds left.

Kassing fouled Meskan four seconds later, and again Meskan made the second free throw to make it a two-possession game. Kassing hoisted up a 3-pointer with four seconds left, but it deflected out of bounds with nary enough time for the Hornets to get off another shot.

“It’s frustrating because I think talent-wise, we’re better than that team,” Phelps said. “We just did not execute when we needed to execute.”

Kassing, who led all scorers with 23 points, said the Hornets just could not kick it into gear quickly enough to get them over the hump.

“If we could have kept with it and given the effort we had at the end the whole game, we definitely could have had that game,” Kassing said.

Markert said the Hornets’ inability to break through was not for a lack of searching for solutions.

“It’s very frustrating to see that they were making all the shots and nothing was working for us,” Markert said. “It was just one of those nights for us. We tried different offenses, different people in different places, it was just that kind of game.”

Adding to the frustration was the fact the Hornets (15-6) didn’t make a 3-pointer.

“We couldn’t buy a shot, oh my gosh,” Phelps said. “We had open looks and just could not (get them to go). We didn’t make a shot outside of 12 feet, I don’t think. There was just nothing falling for us tonight. You’re going to have those games. We hit seven (3-pointers) in a game last week but none tonight. It was just one of those games where things did not fall our way.”

Phelps, whose team is ranked ninth in the Associated Press Class 1A state poll, said games like this will prove beneficial for the Hornets in the long run.

“This is a good 2A team,” Phelps said. “It’s something that hopefully will make us more resilient in the postseason.”

Shane Hulsey photos