Koning’s 3s help AFC past Missiles

Shot, swish, publish

BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, Ext. 552

Created: Tuesday, February 5, 2013 12:14 a.m. CDT

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POLO – Lea Koning had a premonition that would warm the crustiest sports writer's heart Monday night at Polo High School.

The moment before she released a 3-pointer from the top of the key, a thought raced through the Ashton-Franklin Center senior's mind. Or so she says.

"Everybody's gonna cheer if this goes in," Koning said. "It's gonna be in the paper."

Release. Rotation. Splash. Publication. Her two 3s in the last minute of the first half broke a tie with fourth-seeded Milledgeville and spurred the fifth-seeded Raiders' 55-44 victory in a Class 1A regional quarterfinal.

The first came right at the 1-minute mark, giving the Raiders (11-15) a 32-29 lead. The latter came off an inbounds with 2.7 seconds left and narrowly beat the buzzer.

"To get into the locker room with some momentum was just what we needed," AFC coach Chris Jahn said.

The NUIC East rivals split the regular-season series, the Missiles winning big 55-31 at home Dec. 7, and the Raiders striking back in Ashton 49-39 on Jan. 26.

On Monday, the Missiles (5-22) gave away the last opportunity of the first half with their 24th turnover of the first half. They'd commit 44 in the game, matching their point total.

"We kind of had some silly turnovers that hurt us," Milledgeville coach John Nesemeier said.

Attesting to that is the fact that AFC only had 20 steals. Ten of them belonged to Sarah Matson.

"Turnovers change the momentum," Matson said. "It helps when you're able to get the ball back and put another score on the board."

She achieved a double-double when she hit two free throws with 5:35 left in the game. They gave the Raiders a 49-37 lead, their biggest up to that point.

Back-to-back runouts by Kailee Forbes (8 points off the bench) and Morgan Adolph (19 points, 7 rebounds) got the deficit back to single digits at 50-41 and showed the Missiles weren't about to quit.

"I'm very proud of everybody's heart and hustle all season," said Milledgeville senior Carli Hunter, who stuffed the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, four steals and four assists. "We didn't have a as many wins as we'd like, but there wasn't one game that we didn't try our hardest.