Gallery by Heather Belcher
The mountain for Westside was a big one Wednesday night in Coal City.
Coming off two wins in the regular season over Independence, the Renegades would have to pull off their third victory over the Patriots under the win or go home pressure of the postseason.
It would also have to happen on Indy’s home floor.
Westside was once again, up the challenge.
Never trailing in the contest, the Renegades pulled away in the final three minutes to beat Independence 50-37 in front of a packed and raucous crowd.
With the win, Westside will now play PikeView Friday in Gardner for the Class AAA Region 3, Section 1 title.
“The first two games were like this too. It was a great atmosphere tonight that went back and forth,” Westside head coach Darren Thomas said. “This time of year, if you can go on the next round, it is a good day. We will see. We have played PikeView pretty decent this year. We will have to play a lot better Friday than we did tonight.”
A contested 3-pointer by Independence standout freshman Lacey Goodson ahead of the buzzer, tied the game at 7-7 after one quarter.
The second quarter, however, belonged to the visitors.
Eight points from Rylee Brown, including two 3-pointers, ignited a 12-0 spurt that became a 24-14 advantage at the break.
“Once I hit that first one, I knew I had to keep shooting,” Brown said. After the first one I felt good and I was up. I thought it got the whole team up and we got pretty hyped after that.”
The sophomore sharpshooter netted another 3-ball late to give her 11 of the 17 points scored by Westside in the second quarter.
“She has played that way for us all year,” Thomas said. “She has to step up and make shots. Her outside game has been a key for us.”
Back-to-back buckets from Daisha Cline and Kaitlyn Lester gave Westside its biggest lead of the game less than two minutes into the third period.
The lead was still 11 points midway through the third before foul trouble and defensive pressure up top changed the momentum in favor of the Patriots.
When the third quarter horn sounded, the Westside lead was down to six points.
“Kenzie (Morgan) was in some foul trouble and it hurt us a little getting the ball up the court,” Brown explained. “That was a rough quarter, but we bounced back. We came back strong in the fourth quarter. I am really proud of us for that.”
Before the Renegades pulled away, they had to weather a scoring drought of over four minutes.
During that span, however, Independence could not take advantage, failing to score on six straight trips after trimming the deficit to four points.
“It seems like every game we go through that four or five minute funk where we throw the ball everywhere,” Thomas said. “I don’t know how long we went there in the fourth quarter before we scored a basket. I told them all year long that we were the Bad News Bears. We just do what we have to do to win. They play hard though and they have played hard all year and they have worked their butts off.”
A bucket from Sarah Lilly ended the Westside drought, but the lead was still only four points with 2:51 to play after a score from Harmony Mills.
“We cut it to four points three or four times, but we would get a jump-ball, a turnover or a missed shot. That is the way the game goes. It just wasn’t our night,” Independence head coach Mark Cuthbert said.
Over the final minutes of the game Lester provided the senior leadership needed to bring home the win for the Renegades.
Following a layup from Cline, Lester scored the next eight points to key an 11-2 run down the stretch that sealed the win for Westside.
“Besides the Logan game, at Logan, we have played pretty good defense. We have been able to keep the scoring down in the 40’s,” Thomas said. “If teams are scoring 50-60 points, there is now way. We are not going to score that many points. We don’t have that type of team this year. This team is scrappy for its size. We don’t do anything perfect, we just play hard. I am really proud of them.”
Playing with a limited rotation and with one player battling the flu, depth and the energy spent on the comeback effort took a toll according to the Independence coach.
“They are playing their hearts out running up and down the floor both offensively and defensively. Playing six girls 32 minutes a night is tough,” Cuthbert said. “We focused on defense all year and it got us back in the game. Harmony came along and attacked the basket and Lacey, as a freshman, playing in that environment, it was amazing to watch them play.”
Lester ended with 17 points and Brown had 16 for Westside. Mills led Indy with 16 and Goodson scored 14.
W: 7 17 11 15 – 50
I: 7 7 15 8 – 37
Westside
Kaitlyn Lester 17, Kenzie Morgan 5, Rylee Brown 16, Daisha Cline 8, Sarah Lilly 2, Karsyn Paynter 2. Totals: 19 9-16 50.
Independence
Alli Hypes 5, Harmony Mills 16, Lacey Goodson 14, Maci Perry 2. Totals: 10 15-21 37.
