Girls Basketball
Senior scores 13 as Crete-Monee falls in Hillcrest tourney final
Thursday’s championship game of the Hillcrest Holiday Classic was a tale of two emotions for Crete-Monee senior Arriyon Phillips.
She felt strong at the beginning and end, but so frustrated in the middle.
You can’t score when you’re on the bench with foul trouble.
Still, Phillips proved quite the gamer for the Warriors in a 51-44 loss to Harlan.
Phillips scored 13 points and had a team-high 10 rebounds for Crete (10-7). Shamarre Hale contributed 15 points, while Ceairra Smith added eight. Teneil Robertson led Harlan (13-5) with 14 points.
Phillips, a 5-foot-8 guard, hit the game-winning 3-pointer for the Warriors in Wednesday’s 46-43 semifinal win over Bradley.
She hit for two more 3s in the first half against Harlan, helping stake Crete to a 20-18 halftime lead.
But midway through the third quarter, Phillips committed her third foul. She didn’t see the floor again until the three-minute mark of the fourth.
“It was very frustrating,” Phillips said. “I wanted to do it for my team. I knew my point guard (Smith) needed me. She needed a second leadership role out there. Me sitting on the bench made it harder for her.”
Smith did her best, augmenting Hale’s work under the basket with some drives of her own. A 5-2 guard, Smith scored six points in the third quarter.
“I just used heart over height,” Smith said. “I go in (the lane) confident.”
Harlan led 42-33 when Phillips re-entered the game in the fourth quarter and immediately struck for a 3-pointer.
She scored five more points as the Warriors got within four on three occasions.
“I knew the whole time we could win the game,” Phillips said. “I just have a lot of confidence in my teammates. I love playing with them, and I know the heart that they have and what they bring to the table each night.
“I just know we just did something big (in the tournament) even though we finished in second place.”
Stagg made its push in the third quarter, turning a two-point halftime deficit into a 41-33 lead.
“We just had to calm each other down a little bit,” Kelley said. “I think we were anxious to do a little bit too much on our own. Once we started playing team basketball, we did well.”
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