***William Ly is a participant of The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program, funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.
On one of the last Fridays of the year, the Kewanee girls’ basketball team faced the Hall Red Devils in Brockman Gymnasium. With some crucial plays and the help of key players, the Boilers were able to take away a nail-biting overtime victory.
With the first play of the game, Kewanee sophomore Damaris Diaz opened the score with a layup off of her own rebound.
Kewanee was able to get two three-pointers, one from senior Mya Dearing and another from senior Tejhiana Amos, to increase the score.
Hall fired back, but in the end, the first quarter ended in Kewanee’s favor, 10-8
For most of the second quarter, both teams struggled to find the basket until the last two minutes in the half.
Hall was able to convert on a few possessions to make the score 15-12 with one minute remaining. On a fast break, Diaz successfully converted on a layup to close the gap, 15-14 before the first half ended.
After an eventful second quarter, Kewanee rallied for 12 points in the third. Eight came from Dearing and the other four from Diaz.
This effort allowed Kewanee to take a 26-23 lead before the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth, Hall nailed a pair of consecutive three-pointers to give them a lead of 29-26.
Dearing made a layup off of a steal to get Kewanee within one with seven minutes left to play.
Both teams went back and forth as the fourth quarter went on. With one minute left, Hall found themselves in the lead 33-31. Kewanee rallied, and Diaz was able to find a layup off of a pass from sophomore Bailey VanWinkle with a minute left to go.
The fourth quarter ended 33-33 and overtime commenced, extending the highly contested game.
In overtime, Diaz was able to find the basket twice for a pair of layups, one of which came off a rebound and the other from a steal. Kewanee was able to close out the game with free throws coming from Amos and sophomore Kieryn Abernathy.
Kewanee took the win 40-34.
Dearing was able to get a double-double with 17 points and 11 steals.
Diaz also got a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, 7 of which were offensive rebounds.
Coach Dave Wallace noted that Abernathy played a key role by grabbing five more offensive boards.
Kewanee’s JV team took a decisive win 43-25.
