This may be getting repetitive, but it never gets old.
The Springfield High School girls basketball team is returning to the Class 3A state tournament at Redbird Arena in Normal.
Zahna Medley scored 33 points, four shy of her career high, to lead the Senators past Salem 77-50 Monday night in the University of Illinois Springfield Supersectional at The Recreation and Athletic Center.
Freshman Courtney Pence said SHS won’t settle for anything less than a shot at the state title after playing in the third-place game each of the last three seasons.
“Their goal was to go to state those first (three) years but this year, we’re not just wanting to go to state, we want to go farther than that,” she said.
Medley, a senior who was named an Associated Press Class 3A all-state player on Monday, led the Senators to a fourth consecutive berth in the semifinals, where they will face Vernon Hills at noon Friday.
Vernon Hills beat Belvidere North 53-46 Monday in the Elgin Supersectional.
Pressure pays
The full-court defense by the Senators (29-4) forced the Wildcats to commit 27 turnovers. Medley, who has committed verbally to play at Texas Christian University next season, had 10 points in the first quarter, six of those coming after Salem turnovers.
“That’s always big and we’ve been working on it all year,” Medley said of the importance of a solid start. “Towards the end of the year, we started coming out strong from the beginning, which was good. And we played all four quarters and that’s what we were trying to do.”
Salem’s Division I answer for Medley, Katie Meador, scored 26 points for the Wildcats (29-5). But unlike the well-rounded Senators, the Wildcats didn’t get consistent production from anybody else.
Meador, headed to Florida Gulf Coast University, got 20 of her points after the Senators had taken a 38-19 halftime lead.
“I know Meador had quite a few points in the second half, but we did a good job in the first half of keeping her down,” SHS coach Brad Scheffler said.
Salem coach Janet Holst was complaining for much of the first half, and it finally caught up with her after the Wildcats’ Marissa Nix was whistled for a shoving foul with 2 minutes 3 seconds to play in the second quarter.
Holst said something to the nearest official, who immediately turned and signaled a technical foul.
Springfield made all four free throws to widen the gap from 29-15 to 33-15
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