Great Lukancic Effort Comes Up Short in Hoops Sectional

Sometimes shots simply don’t fall.

That’s what happened to a determined ’s seventh-grade girls basketball team Wednesday night as their quest to make it downstate fell one game short with a 44-36 sectional final loss to Martino Junior High of New Lenox.

The Flames (6-14) only hit a quarter of their 48 shots but still hung tough behind tremendous efforts by Kaylee Bambule (19 points, 8 rebounds,) Alexis Marin (13 points, 4 steals) and Julianna Torres (2 points, 6 rebounds) as well as the rest of their teammates.

The taller Vikings (21-1) were simply too much for Lukancic, hauling in 34 rebounds while scoring 17 of their 21 hoops on layups or put-backs. Martino’s 5-9 forward, Hayley Holmes, tallied 22 of her team’s points and hauled in 14 rebounds.

A pair of 3-pointers by Marin got the Flames off to an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Audrey Sizemore’s turn-around with 4:10 left in the half gave Lukancic its last lead of the contest at 15-14 before Martino went on 13-7 run over the next six minutes.

Bambule’s runner with 1:11 left in the third quarter made it 27-24 and her two free throws at the start of the fourth quarter made it 29-26. But that’s as close as the Flames got.

Martino outscored Lukancic 12-4 in the mid fourth quarter to take a big lead. Bambule’s drive and her 3-pointer with 1:26 left gave Lukancic some hope that was quickly dashed when the Vikings made key free throws down the stretch.

Other Flames team members include Arianna Lampkins (1 rebound,) Megan Teschke (3 rebounds,) Montanah Eberhardt (2 rebounds,) Fatima Stingily (1 rebound,)  Elani Aguilar and Alisha Claudio. They are coached by Kari Diversey with assistance from Tammy Rotelli.