FISHER – Ross Harden, head coach of the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley varsity girls basketball team, said he stayed up until 2:30 a.m. watching film the night prior to Thursday’s IHSA Class 1A Fisher Regional championship game.
The Falcons were set to face Ridgeview that day. It was their third matchup against the Mustangs after GCMS won the first two contests, including one eight days prior to Thursday’s regional title game.
“This game didn’t scare me, but it had me bothered because it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row,” Harden said. “We put a few things in that we didn’t do before just to kind of get them off guard, and I think it worked on the offensive end.”
There was little to worry about for Harden and his team as GCMS won 57-15 over Ridgeview to claim the regional title.
“That feels good. It’s just a tribute to the girls,” Harden said. “I’m really proud of them. It’s been a long journey for them. They work hard all the time, and it’s paying off for them, so I’m proud of that.”
“It’s nice. It feels good,” GCMS freshman Lily Sizemore added. “We’ve worked all year for this.”
It is the Falcons’ first regional title since 2019.
“It’s been a minute since we got it,” Harden said. “I just couldn’t be more proud of these girls for the way they worked in June, November, December, January and right now. That’s a tribute to them. They come in every day ready to go. I’m just really proud of the hard work they put in.”
The Falcons started the game with a 13-0 run.
Mindy Brown made a free throw with 6:27 left in the first quarter to score the game’s first point. After missing the back end of her free-throw attempts, Brown forced a jump ball on the ensuing rebounding attempt to give the Falcons the ball back.
On the ensuing inbound pass, Savannah Shumate scored two points to make the score 3-0. Brown then stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak layup to make it 5-0.
“Our three-quarter court pressure gave them some fits, and then we got easy points off that,” Harden said. “It just got the spark going in the first half, and we didn’t let off the gas. That’s tribute to how hard these girls work.”
Sizemore then scored on a driving layup before draining back-to-back 3-pointers to extend GCMS’s lead to 13-0 with less than three minutes left in the first quarter.
“We came out very hot,” Sizemore said. “We knew we had to jump out on them early.”
Sizemore finished with 31 points, missing her career-high by two points when she scored 33 points on Jan. 29 against Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland.
“She had a good night,” Harden said. “A freshman taking over the game is unreal to me. She works at her craft, and she’s really good at it. Hat’s off to her.”
“I’m used to it now,” Sizemore added. “All these guys are like my sisters.”
Zori Terven ended Ridgeview’s scoring drought with a basket with 2:49 left in the first quarter before Shumate scored on a Sophia Ray assist to make it 15-2. Kenzie Wesson made a basket for the Mustangs before buckets by Brown and Sizemore extended GCMS’s lead to 19-4 with 53.3 seconds left in the first quarter.
A basket by Terven was followed by two free throws from Sizemore to make the score 21-6 as the first quarter came to an end.
Terven made a basket before a layup by Mallory Rosendahl made it 23-8. Sizemore made a jump shot before a steal by Rosendahl led to a fastbreak layup by Sizemore made it 27-8 with 5:08 left in the second quarter.
Sizemore then made a 3-pointer and a two-point basket before converting a three-point play to extend GCMS’s lead to 35-8 with 2:51 remaining in the second quarter.
“The girls came out tonight and just absolutely played unbelievably well,” Harden said.
Presleigh Beck made two free throws to make it 35-10 by halftime.
The Falcons then held Ridgeview to one point in the third quarter en route to yielding 15 total points to the Mustangs.
“We’ve never done that all year long,” Harden said. “To hold a team to 15 points is a credit to the defense and the girls’ hard work. I’m really proud of them. The defense was locked in. It was just a great game to watch their hard work come to fruition. Hat’s off to our defense. That was an unbelievable performance.”
Sizemore started the third-quarter scoring with back-to-back 3-pointers before Ray grabbed an offensive rebound and assisted Brown on a bucket and Sizemore added a two-point field goal to extend GCMS’s lead to 45-10.
Wesson made a free throw to tally Ridgeview’s lone third-quarter point with 2:16 left in the quarter before Giroux recorded a steal and assisted Avery Hyatt on a basket to make it 47-11. Addison Kerchenfaut made a free throw with 30.6 seconds left in the third quarter before Giroux tallied a foul shot to make it 50-11 as the third quarter came to an end.
Sizemore eclipsed the 30-point mark with a basket that made it 52-11 early in the running-clock fourth quarter before Terven made a basket that cut Ridgeview’s deficit to 52-13. Hadley Doman then made a two-point shot to make it 54-13.
Courtney Wesson made two free throws for Ridgeview before Anna Warren buried a 3-pointer to make it 57-15.
Along with Sizemore’s 31 points, Brown and Shumate each finished with seven points while Warren had three points. Doman, Hyatt, Rosendahl and Giroux each had two points while Kerchenfaut had one point.
The second-seeded Falcons will face either top seed Peoria Heights or No. 4 seed Varna Midland – who will face each other in the Flanagan-Cornell Regional championship game on Friday — in the Ridgeview Sectional semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“That’s where my focus turns – to getting the girls prepared for that game,” Harden said. “I’ve seen film on Peoria Heights, and they’re really good. They can shoot it. They’re fast. They run a 1-3-1 (zone defense), and they’ll be ready to go if that’s who it is. I heard Midland’s really good as well. I’ll try to have the girls prepared and ready to go for Tuesday night in Colfax.”
Wins in the sectional semifinals and final would give the Falcons their first sectional title since the consolidation of Gibson City and Melvin-Sibley High Schools in 1993.
“We just need to get another win and keep going because we’re trying to make history,” Sizemore said.
GCMS 57, Ridgeview 15
RID 6 4 1 4 — 15
GCMS 21 14 15 7 — 57
Ridgeview
Courtney Wesson 1-0-2, Presleigh Beck 1-0-2, Rylee Kukuck 0-0-0, Abrielle Cavinder 0-0-0, Kenzie Wesson 1-1-3, Zori Terven 4-0-8, Dulce Ramirez 0-0-0, Kamryn Rinkenberger 0-0-0. Totals 5-5-15.
GCMS (22-8)
Lizzie Giroux 0-2-2, Mindy Brown 3-1-7, Kate McCall 0-0-0, Mallory Rosendahl 1-0-2, Sophia Ray 0-0-0, Savannah Shumate 3-0-7, Lily Sizemore 12-3-31, Avery Hyatt 1-0-2, Addison Kerchenfaut 0-1-1, Anna Warren 1-0-3, Kate Kristensen 0-0-0, Hadley Doman 1-0-2. Totals 22-7-57.
3-pointers – GCMS 6 (Sizemore 4, Shumate, Warren).
