The Byron Tigers were left on the state championship doorstep once again.
Just like three years ago, when this year’s stars were freshmen, Byron fell in the IHSA Class 2A girls basketball state championship on Saturday, 44-28. In 2023 it was Breese Mater Dei, while this time it was Breese Central taking home the title.
“We just didn’t hit our shots,” Byron’s senior star Macy Groharing said after the Tigers shot 21 percent (9-for-42) from the field in the March 7 title game. “That’s the hard part about basketball, just some days you’re going to be off. Today was one of those days for us.”
Byron (33-3) started off slow again, much like in Thursday’s semifinal comeback victory. The difference: the Tigers didn’t have a full rally left in them, like they did in the semis.
Byron made only 18 percent (2 of 11) of its shots in the second quarter and 10 percent (1-for-10) in the third, and shot seven airballs and missed five layups. But the Tigers shot 34 percent (17-for-47) from the floor in the semis, and still managed to get through.
“It just wasn’t there this time,” Byron head coach Eric Yerly said of the comeback energy.
They showed fire in spurts on Saturday, and did enough to stay in the game much of the way, even when their shots weren’t falling.
“We knew Breese Central is talented and we had a tough task ahead of us,” Yerly said. “And then we just had that bad start to the second quarter, and we could never really recover.”
After drifting behind 7-2 four minutes in, Malia Morton got two quick fast-break layups and Macy Groharing sank a pair of free throws late in the first quarter as Byron turned the tides. It just didn’t last, however.
Byron led 9-7, but Breese Central (32-3) opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run as Groharing, Morton and the Tigers all quickly cooled off. That would be Byron’s last lead. Groharing was 2-for-7 from the field, 0-for-3 from 3-point range, in the first half while Morton was 2-for-8 from the floor and 0-of-4 from long distance.
A steal and a fastbreak layup from Groharing at the second-quarter buzzer kept the Tigers in it, down 21-15 at halftime. But Breese Central, led by Lily Butler’s 15 points and Lexy Santel’s 13, came out and took the title away in the second half.
“Our girls are just so good, and you got to see it today,” Breese Central head coach Nathan Rueter said after his team shot 46 percent (19-for-41) from the field, and outrebounded Byron 34-21. “We’ve made some huge shots in the fourth quarter of games all season long. We did it again today.”
Much like when Groharing and Morton couldn’t help rally the Tigers past Breese Mater Dei in the 2023 state championship, Byron fell flat in its come-from-behind effort this time around as well, and Breese Central earned its second state title, first since 2007.
One of Byron’s shooters off the bench, Alya Shoschi, drilled a long 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth quarter to trim the Cougars’ lead to 33-22. But the Tigers could not follow that up, and faded down the stretch.
“We kept fighting and kept attacking,” Yerly said. “It just didn’t go our way.”
Morton led Byron with nine points on 3 of 12 shooting, while Groharing had eight on 3 of 14 shooting. Aubrie Fuller, the scoring hero of the semis, tallied five points on 1-for-6 shooting, and she added six rebounds to the mix.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Byron fades down the stretch and takes second at girls state basketball
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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