PEORIA — Richwoods saw its girls basketball season end Thursday in the Sweet Sixteen.
The host Knights couldn’t overcome 27 turnovers in a 58-48 loss to Belleville East in the Class 4A sectional championship. Richwoods finishes its season at 24-5, snapping a nine-game winning streak, but making its first sectional championship since 2019.
“I think that’s probably one of the most athletic teams we’ve played this year,” Richwoods coach Shamar Hill said, “so I knew it was going to be a fight the whole game and we were going to have to battle and compete.
“I’m proud of the ladies. We chipped away (at Belleville East’s lead). We just weren’t good enough today to win the game.”
With Richwoods point guard Kayla Herron saddled to the bench with first-half foul trouble, East grabbed a 10-point halftime lead, then pushed it to 13 midway through the third quarter. The Knights turned the ball over 18 times in the opening 16 minutes.
“That really hurt us a little bit,” Hill said of not having Herron in to run the offense. “… She got those quick fouls and it was very unfortunate.”
However, Richwoods responded with a 20-10 spurt over the next almost seven minutes. Herron scored 10 of her team-high 18 points during that stretch. Her 3-pointer at the 6:13 mark of the fourth quarter pulled the Knights within 47-44, but Richwoods went the next 4:11 without a field goal.
Herron finished 7-for-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc.
Hailey Gray’s game-high 21 points led Belleville East (28-5), which advances to the 7 p.m. Monday supersectional at Illinois Wesleyan against Homewood-Flossmoor (24-9). Ramiyah Young added 18 points for the Lancers, who held a 16-12 rebounding advantage.
Despite six turnovers to open the fourth quarter, Belleville East coach Shardae King says her team didn’t panic when Richwoods made its second-half push.
“We’ve been down that road before,” she said. “It’s not a great thing to brag on, but we definitely will be up, then lose momentum. … As time has gone on, we’ve been doing a better job with trying to not get worried about it and just keep doing what we have to do.”
Londyn Sommerville added 13 points and four rebounds for the Knights, who got 10 points from Keniya Todd.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
(This story was updated with new information.)
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Richwoods girls basketball season ends in defeat in sectional title game
Reporting by Adam Duvall, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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