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wilmettebeacon.com sports
the wilmette beacon | February 22, 2018 | 47
This Week In...
Trevian varsity athletics
Boys basketball
■Feb. ■ 27 - host Wheeling/Elk
Grove (New Trier Regional), 6 p.m.
■March ■ 2 - host TBD (New Trier
Regional), 7 p.m.
Girls basketball
■Feb. ■ 22 - vs. TBA (at Maine East
Sectional), 7 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 26 - vs. TBA (at Hersey
Supersectional), 7 p.m.
Boys swimming and diving
■Feb. ■ 23 - at IHSA State Finals (at
Evanston) 3:30 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 24 - at IHSA State Finals (at
Evanston), noon
Boys track
■Feb. ■ 23 - at Niles North Invite,
5 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 27 - host Mather, Lake View,
Taft, 4:30 p.m.
Girls track
■Feb. ■ 23 - at Glenbrook North
Invite, 4:30 p.m.
Rambler varsity athletics
Boys basketball
■Feb. ■ 27 - vs. Hersey/Von Steuben
(Maine South Regional), 6 p.m.
■March ■ 2 - vs. TBD (Maine South
Regional), 7 p.m.
Girls basketball
■Feb. ■ 22 - vs. TBA (at Maine East
Sectional), 7 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 26 - vs. TBA (at Hersey
Supersectional), 7 p.m.
Boys swimming and diving
■Feb. ■ 23 - at IHSA State Finals (at
Evanston) 3:30 p.m.
■Feb. ■ 24 - at IHSA State Finals (at
Evanston), noon
Boys track and field
■Feb. ■ 25 - at ICOPS Invite, 8 a.m.
Panther varsity athletics
Girls track
■Feb. ■ 24 - at Prospect Invite, 10
a.m.
Raider varsity athletics
Boys basketball
■Feb. ■ 23 - host TBA (at North
Shore Country Day Regional), TBA
■Feb. ■ 27 - vs. TBD (at Robeson
Sectional), 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball
Ramblers hustle past Wildkits for regional crown
Eric DeGrechie, Editor
In basketball, the best shooters
will often keep shooting to
break out of a cold streak.
Loyola Academy’s Julia Martinez
seemed to be in that predicament
during the first half
of her team’s Class 4A Lane
Tech regional title game versus
Evanston on Thursday, Feb. 15,
in Chicago. The junior point
guard shrugged off the slow
start en route to leading all scorers
with 26 points as the No.3-
seeded Ramblers defeated the
Wildkits, 47-31, to advance to
the sectional semifinals.
“We told her at halftime to
just wash it away and have amnesia.
She’s too good a player
to let that affect her,” Loyola
coach Jeremy Schoenecker
said. “I told her she was going
to win us the game. We wanted
the ball in her hands. She was
a rock star in the second half.”
Loyola (24-5), winners of
seven straight, got the best
of Evanston, a team that had
knocked it out of the playoffs
in three of the last four years.
The Wildkits (19-9) defeated
the Ramblers in January. Next
up for Loyola was a showdown
with Maine South on Monday,
Feb. 19, at Maine East.
Against Evanston, Loyola
went on a 7-0 run at the close
of the opening stanza to take
a 13-9 advantage. Though her
shots weren’t falling during the
early going, Martinez constantly
drove to the basket.
“They kept on giving me
the lane and they were forcing
me left. Obviously, my strong
hand is the right, but I had been
practicing all week on my left
hand,” said Martinez, Loyola’s
all-time assists leader. “I was
able to finish strong tonight,
especially with their defense on
me, because I had been working
on it all week.”
She also finished with 10 rebounds
and five steals.
Senior Lilly Wehman (nine
Loyola Academy celebrates after winning the Class 4A Lane Tech regional title game versus Evanston
on Thursday, Feb. 15, in Chicago. Eric DeGrechie/22nd Century Media
points, nine rebounds, four
blocked shots) opened the second
quarter with a 3-pointer.
Later, Wehman nailed another
trey to make it 20-9 with just
under six minutes remaining.
Evanston called a timeout.
The Wildkits inched back into
the game and went into the halftime
locker room looking at a
22-15 deficit.
Both defenses came out recharged
in the second half of a
game that got more physical as
it progressed.
“Defense wins championships.
Coming into it, we
wanted to limit their secondchance
points,” said Wehman,
a Georgetown-commit and
Loyola’s all-time blocks leader.
“The key for us was keeping the
ball in our possession and limiting
their possessions.”
About midway through the
third quarter, there was a scary
moment when Evanston’s Syann
Holmes hit her head hard
on the gym floor. She was down
for several minutes while trainers
tested her for a concussion.
The junior forward was walked
off the court and did not return.
Inspired by the loss of their
player, the Wildkits cut Loyola’s
lead to 23-21 on a driving basket
by Kayla Henning. Martinez
answered right back with
a three-point play at the 3:30
mark. She followed that up with
several more baskets and the
Ramblers went up 31-24 heading
into the final eight minutes.
Evanston was forced to foul
throughout the fourth quarter
and Loyola built on its lead for
the victory.
“I’m so happy for the girls.
When you’re 23-5, and if you
lose a regional championship, it
feels like a bummer of a year,”
Schoenecker said. “To get over
this hurdle, and to do it against
a team like this, we’re really
happy.”
Junior Celia Satter added six
points, five rebounds for the
winners. Addie Morrill tallied
four steals.
While defeating Evanston
was a huge step for Loyola,
Martinez and her teammates are
looking to accomplish even bigger
things this postseason.
“To be able to knock them out
is just an unbelievable feeling,”
Martinez said. “All the hard
work is starting to pay off, but
it’s not over yet. We’ve still got
a couple more games to achieve
our goal of making it down to
state.”
In the sectional semifinals, on
Monday, Feb. 19, Loyola faced a
Maine South squad it barely eked
past last month in a 39-38 win on
Jan. 23. New Trier battled Maine
West in the other sectional semifinal.
Both results were unavailable
as of press time.
“This win [against Evanston]
will help get us up for practice.
We’ll keep grinding and
working on getting shots up,”
Wehman said. “We’re ready to
go. You don’t want this feeling
to end.”