Larkin has mixed three wins with three winnable games that slipped through its fingers.
Tuesday, it received the harshest of those lessons.
The Royals had led by 10 points, but West Aurora won 57-55 on junior Skylar Doby’s wild runner at the buzzer at Larkin.
In the fourth quarter, the Blackhawks scored 27 points while going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Larkin (3-3) lost a seven-point lead and hit only 2-for-10 from the stripe.
“I think what we’re working on now is how to win games,” Larkin senior Marlee Kyles said. “We have a really young team. We’re going to get it figured out soon.”
The groundwork for West’s comeback started in the first half. Larkin held the Blackhawks to two first-quarter points, but led only 20-14 at the half, thanks in part to six missed layups. Larkin shot 6-for-31 in the first half.
“It’s lack of experience,” Larkin coach Stephen Knapp said. “We’ve got a young team. This program hasn’t won a lot of games the last four years. We’ve just got to learn from it. Like I told the girls, I’d rather take a loss like this now than in February.”
Kyles had another dominant performance, leading all scorers with 29 points and adding 15 rebounds, five steals and four assists. That came after Kyles, an Arizona recruit, was honored before the game for becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer. The previous record holder, Kylie Ross (Holtz), presented Kyles with a plaque.
“That meant the world to me,” Kyles said. “I just feel so blessed and so proud to go to Larkin and have all of these accomplishments. I know Kylie, I had her as a gym teacher. I just love her. To have her present me with the award was truly awesome.”
Knapp was happy to see his star player receive the honor.
“It was great,” Knapp said. “She’s had so many accomplishments at the school. For a player of her caliber to turn her mental game around, how she’s been the past two years, it’s been phenomenal. It’s night and day from being a non-captain to a leader who everyone can trust.”
The young Royals are going to need her leadership and production to start winning these close games. Their three losses have come by a combined 14 points.
“It just comes down to in clutch time, you just have to have more confidence,” Kyles said. “That’s what we’re working on in practice too. Once we get that, I think we’ll be fine.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance writer for The Courier-News.
