Turnovers doom Prairie Ridge

Prairie Ridge simply could not protect the ball, and it cost the team the game.

The Wolves committed 25 turnovers in a 64-57 Class 4A Crystal lake South Sectional loss that gave Rockford Boylan a crack at Huntley in Thursday’s championship game.

“They’ve got players everywhere,” Prairie Ridge coach Rob Baker said. “They, offensively, can make shots everywhere on the floor. They have bigs that can post up and cause you problems.

“They have an offensive player at every spot and when they have an offensive player at every spot it’s tough to come back.”

Boylan (26-4) had four players in double figures, including Jensen Blassage with a game-high 21 and Halle Stull with 13. The Titans won for the 23rd straight time by going on a late first-quarter spurt and never looking back.

Prairie Ridge committed five turnovers in the final 3:30 of the first quarter and Boylan was able to go on an 11-2 run, ending with a three-pointer by Stull for a 20-13 lead.

“I think our press really got them upset a lot and they made some key turnovers,” Boylan coach Paul Perrone said.

The lead never dipped below seven again.

“Not a lot of teams play zone around here,” Baker said. “We haven’t played against many zone defenses even though we play our own zone.

“We were trying to force things and trying to be too quick and too fast instead of relaxing and let things come to us.”

Prairie Ridge (21-10) got 16 points from Sarah LeBeau, who had three second-half three-pointers to help the Wolves shave a 15-point third quarter deficit back to seven in the fourth quarter. Aly Clark had 13 and Maddie Drain 14 for the Wolves.

“I couldn’t be prouder of my kids,” Baker said. “Obviously we got down and we didn’t quit. We still kept going. We just didn’t make as many shots as we usually do.”

And committed more turnovers than usual.