The defensive scheme employed by Lake Central in the Class 4A Lowell Sectional semifinals was designed to try to rein in West Side standout Dana Evans.
And the scheme worked as the Louisville recruit was held below her season scoring average and finished with 33 points.
What the plan did not account for was Dash Shaw.
Shaw had a big third quarter on her way to a 23-point showing which allowed the Cougars to emerge with a 61-50 win over the Indians.
“Dash stepped up big time for us,” West Side coach Rod Fisher said. “It was the best clutch quarter that she has played all year. We’re going to need her to do that. She can take some of that pressure off of Dana.”
West Side (18-6) will play Highland (16-7) at 6 p.m. Saturday for the sectional title. The Trojans beat Morton 79-44 in the first semifinal.
West Side made a serious rush midway through the second quarter, erasing a five-point Lake Central lead with a 11-0 run. But Lake Central scored the final five points of the half including a basket from Kylie Fehrman right at the halftime horn to whittle West Side’s halftime lead to 24-23.
Evans started slowly. She hit just two of her eight field-goal attempts in the first quarter, but warmed up in the second and finished the half with 16 points.
Lake Central continue to focus on limiting Evans’ shots in the third quarter. They succeeded as Evans finished that quarter with one point. However, that philosophy opened up the floor for Shaw, who scored 14 points in the quarter. West Side left that quarter with a 39-36 lead.
Lake Central took a momentary lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers from Fehrman and Lauren Ladowski. But after that, it was all West Side with Shaw and Evans combining to score nearly all of the Cougars’ fourth-quarter points.
“We we forced some things when we had a five- or six-point lead, but they can shoot the basketball very well,” Fisher said. “But we changed our defense up a little bit, trapped a little bit and played pretty well on the defensive end. And when you have Dana you always have a chance.”
Fehrman led Lake Central with 20 points. She was the lone-double digit scorer for the Indians (19-7).
In the opener, Highland pieced together a 22-4 surge in the middle of the first half to take control against Morton.
After carrying a 45-20 lead into the break, Highland erased all doubt of the outcome by scoring the first 10 points of the third quarter.
Taylor Steele provided the offensive spark for Highland with 28 points and Morgan Rinkema added 15 points. Steele and Rinkema accounted for seven of Highland’s 3-pointers in the game. Michaela Schmidt added 12 points.
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Morton was led by ShanEttine Butler with 13 points. Hannah Hammar added 12 points for the Governors (12-11).
Steve Soucie is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.