Belvidere pulls off upset in opening round

By Chris Johnson

REPORTER

The Belvidere Lady Bucs did what they had to do on opening night of the IHSA Class 3A Girls’ Basketball Playoffs. They upset their first round opponent and moved on to face the top-seed in the Rockford Lutheran Class 3A Regional.

The Lady Bucs defeated the seven-seed Marengo Lady Indians 47-39 and moved on to round two and a showdown with the top seed in the Kaneland Regional-Sectional Complex for the right to advance and fight for a regional title.

Unfortunately for Belvidere, Rockford Lutheran was too much in the Regional Semi-Final as they won 56-29 and pushed themselves into a showdown with four-seed Stillman Valley for the 3A Title.

The time on the court for Belvidere gave their senior leaders on this year’s team the chance to play for the last time in their high school career.

Led throughout the season by senior Neve Yerk, her overall play and leadership won’t be available for next year’s squad. She will be pursuing her own goals after graduation in May.

Other senior players on this year’s team who will be missed include Alayna Weber, Lauryn Baier, MacKenzy Jankiewicz, and Cailey Flewelin.

When the IHSA Selection Committee handed out seeds, they didn’t think the Lady Bucs were going to have a very good chance against Marengo. They received the eight seed. But, the upset occurred, and Belvidere improved to 9-19 on the year.

The Lady Bucs finished in eighth place in the NIC-10 this season. They finished 12 games back in the loss column behind the regular season champion Boylan Titans.

However, over the final two weeks of play, the Lady Bucs found wins more frequently.

After falling for the fifth consecutive time in league play at Harlem on Friday, Feb. 3, the Lady Bucs came back with a 20-point win over the Freeport Lady Pretzels on Tuesday, Feb. 7. They accomplished the goal of taking down their NIC-10 foe as a result of an explosive start to the game.

In many phases of consideration, the night was owned by Belvidere. They outpaced Freeport by nine points in the opening period and continued the shellacking in the second when they scored 23 and held the Lady Pretzels to just four. At the half, Belvidere was in front 42-14. After that, reserves got some time to play as they joined a few of their starters through the third quarter.

Each team added 14 points to the total in the third as the 28-point lead carried into the fourth. Freeport won the final eight minute period 17-9 but fell 65-45 for the night.

A loss at Guilford closed the regular season for Belvidere as they fell on the road by 19 points, 59-40.

The post-season began and Belvidere had to play on opening night, they won to close the stretch taking two-of-three into the Class 3A Tournament.

Now,  it’s spring season and a chance for the Lady Bucs to exchange the sneakers for cleats as they prepare to head out onto the fields within the next few weeks.