Brooks Basketball Team Just Misses State Finals

An unrelenting defense wasn't enough to carry Brooks Middle School to the 8th grade girls basketball state quarterfinals as a taller and stronger Mokena Junior High squad held off the Bulldogs 34-30 in a sectional final contest Wednesday evening in Frankfort. 

Brooks (18-3) forced 26 turnovers in the contest including back-to-back steals by MacKenzie Williams and Tsimba Malonga with three minutes left in the game to give the Bulldogs a 28-26 lead. But the Meteors (17-7) utilized their powerful inside game to tally on a put back and a layup to take the lead for good 30-28 with 1:38 left.
Malonga's free throw with 1:19 left pulled the Bulldogs within 1. After another Mokena layup, Williams hit a free throw with 33 seconds left and Cheyenne Martinez stole the ball to give the Bulldogs a chance to tie. 

But they couldn't convert. A pair of Meteors free throws in the final seconds put the game away.

Mokena hit just one basket from the outside in the contest, scoring on five layups and four put backs. The remainder of their points came on free throws mostly when Brooks fouled on Meteors drives or rebounds. Mokena out rebounded the Bulldogs 38-21.

Brooks led after a quarter 9-8 in a period that included a Malonga 3-point-play and a Malonga layup at the buzzer after a steal by Williams. Taylor Robinson's put back gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 17-14 with 2:01 left in the half.

After Mokena built a 22-19 lead in the mid third quarter, Francesca Aniceto gave the Bulldogs a huge lift with a pair of free throws and a breath-taking jumper that rolled around the basket before dropping in, plus a coast-to-coast effort following a steal to make it 24-22 Brooks
with 1:44 left in the period. But the Bulldogs couldn't pull it out in the fourth quarter.

Malonga led Brooks with 12 points, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Aniceto added 8 points, a steal and a block. Williams scored 5, grabbed 6 rebounds and had 3 steals. Talia Edwards hit 3 free throws. Robinson added a bucket and 5 rebounds. Martinez had 4 steals and 3 rebounds. Evelyn Jones hauled in 2 rebounds.

Editor's note: This is a press release from Valley View School District 365U. 

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