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Sports

Girls Basketball: Joliet West Squanders 18-point Lead

Crete-Monee 52, Joliet West 46. Tigers surrender 38 second-half points as season comes to an end in Monday's Crete-Monee regional.

The Hot Read: Joliet West held Crete-Monee without a field goal for a stretch of 9 minutes, 22 seconds in the first half to take 30-14 lead at halftime, but fell apart in the second half of Monday’s Class 4A contest in the Crete-Monee Regional. The Warriors closed the third quarter on a 12-0 run but didn’t rally past the Tigers until Destiny Harris’ put-back on a missed free throw with 1:26 gave the hosts a 47-45 lead. The Tigers would never recover.

Patch's MVP: Crete-Monee’s Destiny Harris certainly didn’t play like a freshman, pressuring Joliet West into turnovers that culminated in easy layups throughout the second half.

Key Stats: Crete-Monee had 38 points in the second half after being held to only 14 in the first half. Joliet West’s Khadija Cooley and Vickey Orasco combined for 17 points, but neither was around for the end of the game. They both fouled out in the fourth quarter.

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Joliet West’s Leaders: Lanita Hinton (12 points), Vickey Orasco (11 points).

Crete-Monee’s leaders: Destiny Harris (21 points), Ashley Henry (9 points).

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Quotable: Tigers coach Kevin Michaels on playing with a big lead but with still half a game left to play: “We’ve never been in that situation before, with that big of a lead. It’s just a tough loss.”

Warriors coach Danny Wafford on his team’s defensive adjustments in the second half: “I told the girls at the very beginning that I like to play the kind of defense where if the kid belches, I want to know what they ate for dinner.”

Team Records: Joliet West: 5-21. Crete-Monee: 11-16.

What's Next: Joliet West’s season is over. Crete-Monee faces No. 3 seed Lincoln-Way East at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

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