MANCHESTER • Parkway South played one of its better regular-season games against Suburban West Conference rival Marquette a couple weeks ago.
The Patriots put together another gem against Marquette on Wednesday in a Class 5 District 3 semifinal game at Parkway South. Behind 20 points from Becca Steins and 19 from Natalie Williams, the Patriots scored a 59-56 victory against the Mustangs.
“Before the game, we were like, ‘They’re going to want this a lot because we beat them,’ but we knew we wanted it more,” said Williams. “We wanted to be playing in that (championship) game Friday night and get a second chance against Lafayette.”
Parkway South (14-13) will indeed get another shot at the mighty Lancers, and Williams’ solid play Wednesday is a big reason why. She made four consecutive free throws in the final 23 seconds of the game to seal the victory against Marquette (16-11).
Parkway South will play Lafayette in the final at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Lafayette advanced to the title game by defeating Eureka on Wednesday.
“I was so nervous,” Williams said of the free throws. “But the whole time, I was like, ‘This is for the team.’ Me and my dad always practiced free throws … I knew (they) were going in.”
Marquette had the ball with 14 seconds left in the game, but couldn’t get a 3-pointer off to send the game into overtime.
“It’s hard when you know the other team has to have a three,” Marquette coach Scott Clear said. “When they have to defend a three, they’re going to stay up on that. We put ourselves in that position.”
Marquette, which lost to the Patriots 71-62 a couple weeks ago, trailed for the first three and a half quarters. Ashley Ploudre, who finished with a team-high 18 points, gave the Mustangs a shot in the arm down the stretch. She scored seven straight points, including two 3-pointers, to put her team up 52-49 with 2 minutes 45 seconds to go.
But Steins, who made nine of 10 shots from the field and added 15 rebounds, scored inside soon after that to put the Parkway South up 53-52, and the Patriots never trailed again.
“My mindset was to do everything I could go help my team and give my team an opportunity to get the ball in the basket and win a game,” Steins said.
After finishing the first half with five points, Steins had 15 in the second half to match Ploudre’s offensive output in the final two quarters.
“She stepped up in the second half,” Parkway South coach Thomas Williams said. “We need her not only to score, but rebound and play defense.”
Parkway South had its way in the first quarter. The Patriots penetrated effectively, getting layup after layup as they sprinted to a 17-6 lead.
In the second quarter, Parkway South battled turnover problems. It also struggled at the free-throw line. Marquette, meanwhile, started to heat up after a slow start. Led by Taylor Campbell, who had eight points of her 14 points in the second quarter, the Mustangs cut the lead to 27-26 at the half.
Parkway South, sparked by Steins, started the second half on a 11-4 run to take a 38-30 lead. Marquette then chipped away until getting its first lead, one it didn’t hold for long.
“Once they went up, the kids had to step up and they did,” Coach Williams said. “I’m very proud of them.”
Follow all of the playoff brackets here. In other district basketball action:
LAFAYETTE 53, EUREKA 42 • The Lancers got a game-high 20 points from Jordyn Martin and 10 from Claire Norfleet en route to a win over the Wildcats in the other semifinal Wednesday at Parkway South.
The Lancers (22-4, No. 5 large schools) led 35-13 at halftime and 42-25 after three quarters.
Eureka (15-12) was led in scoring by Kelsey Tepen who had 17 points.
