Senior guard Alyssa Iverson agreed that Harvest Christian was the “underdog” in Monday’s supersectional against Marshall.
The Lions proved they were up for the challenge.
Iverson was not intimidated in the least and scored a game-high 16 points, but Marshall advanced to the state finals with a 53-48 win in the Class 2A Illinois Valley Supersectional.
“We knew we were the underdog in this situation,” Iverson said. “They’re a great program, and they have been a great program. I told everyone the whole game to keep playing hard until the clock says zero, and we did.
“I think everyone left it all on the court. That’s all you can ask for. We came up short, but that’s OK. We gave the effort.”
Harvest (28-5) took a 40-37 lead with 3:24 left on Grace Ringel’s layup. That helped the Lions recover from a half-court 3-pointer from Marshall’s Niyah Zamudio that beat the third-quarter buzzer.
Although that gave the Commandos (23-7) a 35-32 lead, Harvest responded with an 8-2 spurt to regain the lead.
“I told the girls that I was super-proud of them,” Harvest coach Jeff Boldog said. “They didn’t back down. They battled every step of the way. We had the ball with the lead, and that’s all you can ask for.
“I told them sometimes in life you give your best, and you come up short. This is unfortunately one of those nights.”
Marshall came up with a 10-0 run to take a 47-40 lead and grab control of the game. Jen Kasper hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 49-44 with 54 seconds left, but Marshall did enough to fend off the Lions for a return to state.
As expected, Marshall focused its defense on Iverson. When she passed out of double-team situations, junior guard Elena Porrata stepped up to fill the void. She scored 14 points for the Lions.
“Alyssa is an awesome player,” Porrata said. “I consider it an honor just to be on the same court with her. The fact that she trusts me to knock down shots, I love that. I knew I had to step up because I knew all the teams key in on her.”
Boldog only coached Iverson for one year, but he walked away impressed.
“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime coaching opportunity to have a girl like her who understands every facet of the game,” Boldog said. “I’m going to miss having her and the opportunity to coach somebody like that because she’s a special player.”
Iverson had many huge moments in her career, including helping the Lions reach the Class 1A state finals last season.
“It’s definitely a hard loss, but I’m lucky to have been able to be a part of so many great moments, supersectionals, going downstate,” Iverson said. “I think a lot of people (at Harvest Christian) spent time making me the player I am today. I couldn’t do it on my own.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
