The second Class AAAA semifinal on this night promised to be a soul-tugger - the highly anticipated Bloomington Kennedy - Eastview clash for the right to play Hopkins in the title game on Saturday night. For Bloomington Kennedy, it seemed like old times as the Eagles were in the limelight back in 2005 and 2006 when Jenna Smith, Tasha Mrosak, Heather MacPhie and Tara Steinbauer had the Eagles running roughshod over opponents. Eastview, on the other hand, has seemingly been on the cusp of breaking through for the last few years and tonight was a huge opportunity for them to get over that hurdle and into the big show on Saturday night. Even more intriguing was the fact that both teams hail from the always-tough South Suburban Conference and had split their two regular season meetings.
Bloomington Kennedy got off to something of an auspicious start when Eastview's Madison Guebert nailed a "3" from the right corner at the 17:20 mark for a quick 3-0 Lightning lead that had Bloomington Kennedy Head Coach Quintin Johnson calling a quick timeout and furiously grabbing his clipboard to make a point to his team. Kennedy finally got on the board at the 12:42 mark but was still trailing 6-2 at this point as Eastview was clearly controlling the tempo of this one early on. Coming down the stretch, Kennedy would close the gap a bit to get to within striking distance but scoring was coming at a premium in this one with Eastview holding a 14-9 lead with 3:41 left. Eastview was now having trouble getting the ball to go through the cylinder and this gave the Eagles the chance to whittle away even further. With :33 left, they took a 16-14 lead when freshman Kiara Russell drained a "3" from the top of the key. For the Lightning, it was a frustrating way to end the first half; a half that saw them get off to a great start and had so many positive things going for them. Now they had to find a way to put all those negative vibes to rest somehow and regroup for the second half. Needless to say, neither team was setting the world on fire from the perimeter with Eastview shooting a cold 25% and Bloomington Kennedy recording an equally frigid 26.1%.
Though the scoring opened up a bit once the second half got underway, neither team could gain a decisive advantage as the lead changed hands on several occasions. With 6:55 left, Kennedy held an ever so slim 32-30 lead and you just had a feeling that this one quite possibly could go into extra sessions. The Eagles, however, weren't interested in making a long night out of this one and made their move late. Leading 38-34 with 2:49 left, they upped their advantage to 41-34 with 1:00 left that severely limited Eastview's chances of getting to within one possession again. Bloomington Kennedy kept leaving the door slightly open as they could not put down critical free throw shots in the last sixty seconds but the Lightning could only draw to within four and that's all the Eagles needed as Bloomington Kennedy claimed an incredibly tough 43-39 win that puts the Eagles on the big stage on Saturday night once again while Eastview was once again forced to play the bridesmaid in this semifinal heartbreaker for them. Bloomington Kennedy was led by Jade Martin's 11 points while Tonoia Wade had 10 points and Jade's younger sister, Jasmyn, notched 8 points. Madison Guebert lead Eastview with 19 points followed by Tyra Johnson's 12 points.
Afterward, a very tired and very hoarse Melissa Guebert thought that the decisive rebounding edge Bloomington Kennedy had (40-29 which included a 25-19 difference in defensive rebounds) made the difference coming down the stretch. There were key opportunities for the Lightning where they simply could not get certain shots to fall and that, coupled with the rebounding, enabled Bloomington Kennedy to escape in this one. A tearful Madison Guebert was quick to point out that her team would be fired up and ready in the consolation game on Saturday.
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