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player ready...A look back at Bolingbrook’s 2006 Class AA state championship:
The buzzer sounded on regulation in the Class AA girls basketball final last March, touching off the typical celebration for Bolingbrook, a cavalcade of cheers and tears.
But, really, it was a wonder the Raiders knew what to do with the extra time on their hands.
Bolingbrook’s weekend at Redbird Arena in Normal was straight out of Bachman Turner Overdrive’s lyric library: Workin’ overtime. Two victories in extra time preceded the Raiders’ 45-34 victory over Belleville Althoff in the championship game, though even that was a two-point affair headed into the fourth quarter.
To start with, in the quarterfinals, Bolingbrook edged past Buffalo Grove 55-54 on a Mauvolyene Adams layup with six seconds left in overtime.
Then came the presumptive championship-before-the-actual-championship against Young in the semifinals. It lived up to its billing, even though the Raiders waited a little longer for a 40-38 overtime victory against Young. This time Bolingbrook guard Brittney Thomas drained a 13-foot jump shot in the lane with three seconds to go in the extra session.
Both victories were a small consolation for one of the Raiders’ two losses–a double-overtime defeat to Sandburg. But then came a championship that didn’t require more than the standard 32 minutes, in which Thomas, Adams and Miranda Tate–the vaunted sophomore transfer from Texas who actually led the Raiders in scoring–all scored in double figures to cap the Raiders’ 31-2 season.
Althoff’s Theresa Lisch, who was later named Ms. Basketball of Illinois for 2005-06, scored 24 in the title game for the runners-up. Althoff’s appearance also was actually a bit of a referendum on the IHSA multiplier, which put the school of 649 into a Class AA final against a school drawing from 3,160 students.
In the Class A final, Hillsboro needed all of its scintilating shooting–64.7 percent for the game as a team–to fend off Okawville in a 44-43 thriller. Hillsboro’s Hope Schulte scored 17 to lead the Hilltoppers to the title.
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2007 GIRLS STATE TOURNAMENTS
At Redbird Arena, Normal
Class A: Feb. 23-24
Class AA: March 2-3