Long time coming

Prairie Ridge’s Ashley Fenton (right) hugs teammate Ally Hodorowicz after the Wolves beat Crystal Lake Central, 30-28, in the IHSA Class 3A Prairie Ridge Regional final Friday in Crystal Lake. (Amanda Schwengel – aschwengel@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – It took 10 years, but Prairie Ridge’s girls basketball team finally added another accolade to its banner.

The top-seeded Wolves won their long-sought regional plaque Friday night, beating second-seeded Crystal Lake Central,
30-28, for the IHSA Class 3A Prairie Ridge Regional crown.

The Wolves advanced to face Oswego at 6 p.m. Monday in a DeKalb Sectional semifinal.

In her first season at the helm, Prairie Ridge coach Jessica Kuffel was as overwhelmed and thrilled by the moment as her team.

“It’s unbelievable,” Kuffel said. “These girls worked harder than any other team I’ve ever coached. I knew that if we played together, good things would happen. ... I’m so happy for this team. It was something we set out to do early in the season, so to accomplish it is just amazing.”

Central (18-11) posed several obstacles for the Wolves (17-13), the largest being containing scoring leaders and junior guards Nelle Youel and Erin Frazier, who the Wolves held to seven and nine points, respectively.

Junior guard Shana Sigmund became the Tigers go-to player down the stretch. Sigmund (10 points) scored all five of the Tigers’ fourth-quarter points including a three-pointer at the 3:55 mark that knotted the score at 28.

Prairie Ridge senior forward Taylor Smerecky (seven points) scored a low post bucket with 2:14 left to play to give the Wolves their eventual two-point margin of victory.

Central couldn’t convert on its subsequent possessions. Tigers coach Matt LePage burned three timeouts in the final 30 seconds of play to script his team’s last-ditch efforts to either win or tie the game, but Frazier’s shot from the right wing as time expired hit the rim and fell out.

The Wolves wasted little time celebrating.

“There’s something to be said for our coach this year, because she really changed things around and inspired us a lot,” Smerecky said. “This means so much to us.”

LePage knows the sensational feeling of ending a title drought – before the Tigers won their 3A regional crown last year, the program had won just four games in three seasons.

“I’m happy for [Prairie Ridge],” said LePage, “and our girls are very proud of what they were able to accomplish this year. We’ve got a junior class, too, that’s already pretty excited for next year.”

Senior guard Anna Patras led the Wolves with 11 points, while senior forward Katrina Kinowski added six.