By Fred Kroner
The Mahomet-Seymour girls’ basketball team stormed back from a fourth-quarter deficit on Tuesday (Feb. 22) to edge Rochester, 34-33, in a Class 3A sectional semifinal game at Lincoln High School.
Rochester (24-10) carried a 28-23 lead into the final eight minutes and expanded its margin to 34-23.
Cayla Koerner scored four of her team-high 10 points in the fourth stanza. Savannah Orgeron, who tallied six points, sunk her second three-point shot of the game during the comeback quarter.
Nichole Taylor contributed eight points to the Bulldogs’ total. Ivie Juarez and Durbin Thomas each netted four points and Abigail Bunting added two points.
Taylor pulled down an offensive rebound and scored in the final minute, lifting the Bulldogs into the lead for good and creating the final score.
M-S scored the game’s final 11 points.
The M-S defense was up to the task in the final 50 seconds, helping the school advance into the state’s Sweet Sixteen in Class 3A.
Juarez (seven) and Bunting (five) led the rebounding effort. Orgeron and Taylor each cleared three rebounds.
Koerner finished with three steals.
Coach Garret Risley’s Bulldogs (29-4) have won 14 games in a row and take on the host Railsplitters (24-8) in a Thursday (Feb. 24) sectional championship game scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The 29 wins for M-S is a school record and is four more than the previous record.
M-S, ranked 10th in the state’s final Class 3A poll, swept the regular-season two-game series from Lincoln. The winner of the Thursday game will advance to the Elite Eight and a super-sectional game on Monday (Feb. 28).
