NORMAL, Ill. — Great game. Disappointing result.
The Altamont girls basketball team went into its state semifinal matchup against Glasford (Illini Bluffs) with a win on its mind, but left the floor with a loss, falling to the Tigers in overtime, 60-48, at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University on Thursday.
“Proud of the effort,” first-year Lady Indians head coach Craig Carr said. “Kids made a lot of big plays throughout, no question. I don’t really have a lot to say about the game in general, except that I’m incredibly proud of the fight and our girls, the way that they represented themselves, their families, their school, their community, and the National Trail Conference.”
Altamont trailed 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Senior Annabelle Fortin hit a 3-pointer to open the game. Fellow senior Lily Luczkowiak then made a midrange hoop to make it 5-0.
Lady Indian senior Grace Nelson then knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two before making two free throws that tied the contest.
Fortin would hit another 3-pointer that gave the Tigers the lead right back, 8-5. Senior Marissa Robertson then made one to extend the margin to six points.
Nelson then made a layup that cut the deficit to four. Luczkowiak — an Illinois Central College recruit — then showcased her long-range game, making a 3-pointer to push the margin to seven with 2:44 left.
Altamont sophomore Kaylee Lurkins would then get on the board after that, making a layup to cut the lead to five before another layup made the score after the first.
“They took us out of some things, but we found counters,” Carr said.
Once such counter was Lurkins. She finished with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. She added four rebounds and one blocked shot in 25 minutes.
“We knew that they were bigger, so I was just focused on finding the basket and trying to stay calm and not get too excited,” Lurkins said.
The Lady Indians outscored Bluffs 13-8 in the second frame to take a two-point lead, 24-22, into the break.
Nelson tied the game with a 3-pointer with 6:44 left.
Luczkowiak then hit a shot to put the Tigers ahead by two, 16-14, before a Nelson midrange shot tied the game once again.
Lurkins then made back-to-back layups to give Altamont a four-point lead, 20-16, with 2:24 left. Bluffs senior Brooke Buchen then made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 2:08 to go.
Nelson then made her third 3-pointer to push the lead to four points, 23-19.
Luczkowiak answered that with one of her own with 22 seconds left before Nelson made of her two foul shots to make the halftime score.
Luczkowiak finished with 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting. She tallied a double-double with 11 rebounds with two assists, as well.
“She’s really good, and we did a nice job on her when we could,” Carr said. “She is versatile.”
The Lady Indians took a four-point lead, 36-32, into the fourth quarter. The Tigers outscored Altamont 28-12 in the fourth and overtime periods to come away with the win.
The Lady Indians led by six points with 6:13 left in the fourth quarter after a midrange shot by senior Claire Boehm.
Bluffs battled back, though, cutting the lead to two after a Fortin shot with 4:27 left.
“I got to credit the girls for playing tough and coming back,” Tigers head coach Jim Belville said. “We started to get down five, six points. Definitely could have kept going in that direction, but the girls righted the ship. They played some good defense and finished, and that put us right back into it.”
Sophomore Chloe Eeten gave Bluffs the lead, 46-45, with 1:03 left after a hoop.
Nelson then drew a foul and went to the line, looking to put Altamont ahead by one point in the late goings. She split from the charity stripe, however, to tie the game.
Fortin then had a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner to win the game, but her shot went off the rim and out, sending the game into overtime.
“Knowing that we were down, I don’t think it really bothered us too much,” Luczkowiak said. “We have that trust in each other.”
“In moments like that, you have to trust your teammates, and you can’t turn on each other,” Fortin added. “I felt like we were pretty confident the whole time.”
The Tigers then went on to dominate the Lady Indians in the extra frame, outscoring them 14-2 to head to the state championship game.
Altamont, on the other hand, will play for third against Peru (St. Bede) at 6:30 p.m.
“The players got us to overtime; the coaches should have got us the W, and that didn’t happen,” Carr said. “I can’t necessarily pinpoint anything that didn’t go our way in the overtime; just got going in the wrong direction, and as coaches, we couldn’t get it figured out. That’s the bottom line.”
Nelson finished with 32 points on 10-for-23 shooting on the court that she will soon call home for the next four years.
“When we ran out there for warmups, it was so surreal,” the Illinois State recruit said. “You look around, and you see everyone; it was so crazy. You look up in the crowd; we brought so many fans. The whole town is behind us. It’s crazy.”
“We did a horrible job of containing her,” Belville said. “She hit some shots deep, early, and there’s not a lot we can do about that.”
Nelson added six rebounds, one assist, and two blocked shots.
Rebounding proved to be an issue for the Lady Indians.
Bluffs out-rebounded Altamont, 35-24.
“I would think you’re lying if I didn’t have the stats right in front of me,” Belville joked. “It didn’t feel like we were out-rebounding them. That’s one of the keys we look at, stats-wise.”
Scoring-wise, aside from Nelson and Lurkins, Boehm had four points, and senior Peyton Osteen had one.
Fortin added 12 points for the Tigers. Eeten had 11, while Buched had five, Robertson had three, and senior Reese Cruit had two.