Another successful season has come to a close for the Annawan girls basketball team. The Bravettes came up on the short end of a 53-46 score in Tuesday night’s 1A Bushnell Sectional semifinal game against Illini Bluffs.
The second-seeded and AP No. 3 Bravettes end the season with a 24-7 record, while the top-seeded and No. 6 Tigers improve to 29-4 and move on to the Sweet 16 (Bushnell-Prairie City Sectional championship game) where they’ll face sixth-seeded Abingdon-Avon (26-7) at 7 Thursday night.
Abingdon-Avon (6) beat Lewistown (5) by a score of 56-47 Tuesday night in the other B-PC Sectional semifinal game. Lewistown ends their season with a record of 19-14.
Abingdon-Avon and Illini Bluffs met earlier in the season and A-Town handed the Tigers one of their four losses in a 38-31 low-scoring affair.
Illini Bluffs 53, Annawan 46
In a game that was close throughout, the Bravettes were down by four at halftime (29-24) and were outscored 24-21 in the second half en route to losing the tightly-contested game.
The Tigers’ 5’10” power forward Lily Luczkowiak and Annabelle Fortin set the tone early, combining to score 15 points as Illini Bluffs took a 15-7 first quarter lead.
The Bravettes charged back with an 18-14 second quarter and were just down four at the half at 29-25. Annawan senior Kaylee Celus made a 3-pointer and scored seven in the frame, while fellow senior Olivia Goodley zeroed in on two treys for six points.
Brenna Davis and Chloe Eeten scored five and four, respectively, in the second quarter for the Tigers. Luczkowiak led Illini Bluffs with 12 points in the first half. Celus led Annawan with nine.
The Bravettes came out with a strong 15-12 third quarter effort and trimmed the Tigers’ lead to just one point at 41-40 with the final eight minutes left to play.
Celus made another 3-pointer and led Annawan with nine points in the third quarter. The rest of the Bravettes’ point production in the third frame came at the charity stripe. Annawan was a perfect 6 for 6 at the line.
Luczkowiak, an ICC signee, scored 10 of the Tigers’ 12 third-quarter points.
With a trip to the Sweet 16 at stake, Illini Bluffs outscored Annawan 12-6 down the stretch to move on to the sectional title game.
Luczkowiak and Reese Cruit combined to score eight points in the fourth quarter. Goodley, Zoey Vance and Bella VanOpdorp each scored two for Annawan.
Luczkowiak led all scorers with 26 points and Fortin added 10 for Illini Bluffs.
In the final game of her prep career, Kaylee Celus led the Bravettes with 18 points. Olivia Goodley, also a senior, followed with 10 and a third senior, Zoey Vance contributed eight points. Elaina Manuel is also a senior.
Junior point guard, Bella VanOpdorp also scored 10 for Annawan.
“We just hurt ourselves too much tonight (taking care of the basketball),” said Annawan Coach Jason Burkiewicz. “We would give Illini Bluffs 6-0 effortless runs and then shoot our way back into the game and then put that påattern on repeat,” he added.
“Nevertheless, Illini Bluffs has a good team and the game was officiated well, which is all you can ask for.”
Burkiewicz then paid tribute to his senior players. “Kaylee Celus was our work horse again last night. Playing 32 minutes and willing us back into the game with her deflections, steals, big three-pointers and rebounding. She does it all out there,” Burkiewicz added.
“This was a special group of seniors that all played varsity as freshmen and learned together at that level. I truly enjoyed the time I was able to work with them.”
