Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock Sectional: Serena tops Newark for program’s first sectional championship

HINCKLEY – After the Serena girls basketball team’s final regular-season home game, the team’s only senior, all-state guard Katie Baker, said she didn’t want that game to be the last she ever played on her home floor.

After the Huskers’ 49-27 victory over Newark in Thursday’s Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock Sectional championship game, it won’t be.

Serena (32-2) will take on 25-8 Ridgeview – a 45-29 winner over St. Thomas More at the Blue Ridge Sectional – 7 p.m. Monday in the Serena Supersectional.

It was the first sectional championship in Serena’s program history and the club’s 28th consecutive win.

“I got it,” said Baker of a last final home game and who despite an off-shooting night finished with 12 points, to go along with six rebounds, seven assists and seven steals. “Jenna Setchell, oh my god, that kid, she was really, really good for us tonight. I told her before the game that if she didn’t shoot when she had open shots and I had to tell her more than three times, I’m going to be ticked off.”

Setchell, a freshman, scored 14 of her game-best 18 points in the opening half to help Serena hold a 22-11 advantage at halftime.

“I felt like I came out with a lot of intensity and was ready to go,” said Setchell, who also recorded five steals. “After our first couple of possessions, I realized with [Newark] guarding Katie and Paisley [Twait] man-to-man that there was going to be open spots for me to get shots. I know Katie is always going to find a way to get the defenders to go to her, and when that happens someone is going to be open. I guess that was me tonight.

“I didn’t feel very confident in the last game, but tonight when that first one went in, I felt like it was going to be a good night.”

Newark (21-9), despite numerous turnovers throughout the game against Serena’s full-court press, hung close and cut the disadvantage to six at 30-24 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter on a putback basket by Kellie Snyder.

“There were times tonight it was ugly.” Serena coach Jim Jobst said. “Newark came out in a triangle-and-2, similar to how Hinckley-Big Rock defended us on Tuesday night. I don’t think we ever handled things against their defense very well all night, but we did a better job of being patient and spreading the floor against it in the second half. We forced a number of turnovers all night, but it wasn’t until the start of the fourth quarter that we started turning them into baskets on the other end.

“Katie struggled as far as shooting goes, but she did everything else well and Jenna had a huge game for us tonight.”

Serena also received nine points and six rebounds from Makayla McNally, plus six points and five rebounds from Reese Cole.

Serena, who forced Newark into 34 turnovers and 35% shooting in the game, responded on a 15-0 run over the next four minutes – starting with a layup by Twait and ending with a Baker drive down the lane – to all but seal the Huskers trip back home against the Mustangs and a chance at a trip to the state finals at Redbird Arena in Normal.

K.J. Friestad registered eight points and 14 rebounds for Newark, with Snyder adding six points and five rebounds.

“The biggest concern coming into tonight was how were we going to handle their defensive pressure,” Newark coach P.J. McKinney said. “Now we had 22 turnovers in the first half alone, but we’re only down 10. But eventually those turnovers catch up with you and against a team like Serena, they are going to start converting on the other end off those steals at some point. This game was a lot like our first game [Serena’s 52-33 win on Jan. 31], we hung with them for a while and then they hit us with a huge run that we couldn’t get stopped. I felt like much of the game was played on their half of the court.

“We are going to miss our seniors; they’ve been such a great group to coach. These girls have worked so hard all season long. This was a tough game to end the season on, but Serena is a very good team and my girls played hard until the end. I’m proud of every girl on this team.”

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Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock Sectional

Championship game

At Hinckley

Serena 49, Newark 27

NEWARK (27) – DiClementi 1-5 1-2 3, L. Hatteberg 1-2 0-0 2, Kruser 0-4 0-0 0, Snyder 3-3 0-0 6, Friestad 4-8 0-0 8, O’Connell 2-6 0-0 5, B. Hatteberg 0-1 1-2 1, Wesseh 0-0 0-0 0, Eike 0-0 0-0 0, Heap 0-0 0-0 0, Wohead 0-0 2-2 2, Christian 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-29 4-6 27.

SERENA (49) – Cole 3-9 0-1 6, McNally 3-7 3-3 9, Baker 3-14 6-6 12, Twait 1-4 0-1 2, Setchell 6-13 4-5 18, J. Mahler 1-1 0-0 2, Linder 0-0 0-0 0, Brennan 0-0 0-0 0, Glade 0-0 0-0 0, M. Mahler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 13-16 49.

Newark (21-9) 4 7 11 5 – 27

Serena (32-2) 9 13 8 19 – 49

3-point goals – Newark 1-8 (DiClementi 0-2, L. Hatteberg 0-1, Kruser 0-2, O’Connell 1-3); Serena 2-7 (Baker 0-3, Twait 0-1, Setchell 2-3). Rebounds – Newark 25 (Friestad 14); Serena 23 (Baker 6, McNally 6, Cole 5). Assists – Newark 4 (Kruser 3); Serena 9 (Baker 7). Steals – Newark 6 (Kruser 3); Serena 18 (Baker 7, Setchell 5). Blocks – Newark 1 (Friestad 1); Serena 0. Turnovers – Newark 34, Serena 15. Total fouls (fouled out) – Newark 17 (Snyder); Serena 11 (none).