Postseason rides aren’t always smooth.

Sometimes the team bus gets wedged under a bridge. Sometimes traffic trips up a team’s estimated time of arrival.

So Johnsburg girls basketball coach Erin Stochl had empathy for a late-arriving Marshall squad Tuesday night. The Commandos got tied up in rush-hour traffic driving from Chicago for a Class 2A Johnsburg Sectional semifinal showdown against Stochl’s undefeated Skyhawks, causing the game to start about 15 minutes late.

Once it started, Marshall was met by a revved-up Johnsburg team that never let off the gas pedal en route to a 57-30 win in front of a near-packed gym.

“It brought back some memories,” said Stochl, recalling the 2020 postseason when her Skyhawks arrived late to Mendota for their sectional semifinal against Winnebago because the team bus got stuck under a bridge. “I felt [Marshall’s] pain in a sense because we’ve been in that position before.”

Unlike in 2020, when they lost to Winnebago, the Skyhawks enjoyed a more enjoyable experience for this late-starting game. Summer Toussaint scored 24 points, air-balling her first 3-point shot before making five of her next nine, as Johnsburg (34-0) advanced to the final at 6 p.m. Thursday against St. Edward (25-8), which outlasted Crane Medical Prep 71-65 in double overtime in the other semifinal.

While they waited for Marshall to arrive at the school, Toussaint and her teammates tried to keep busy and focused.

“We put some music on for a bit,” said Toussaint, who also had five rebounds and three steals. “We were getting all hyped up, and then we sat there and were talking to each other, trying to stay calm, because we were all nervous. We just took some deep breaths.”

Johnsburg bolted to a 12-0 lead, didn’t surrender a point until the final minute of the first quarter and took an 18-2 lead into the second after Toussaint and Lauren McQuiston hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

The Skyhawks led 36-3 before No. 2 Marshall (19-8) scored its first field goal.

So much the home team being off its game due to the game’s delayed start.

“We knew it was going to turn out all right,” McQuiston said. “We all played for each other, so I don’t think it really affected us.”

McQuiston scored two of the more memorable baskets of the opening half, starting with a baseline move and close-in shot that she muscled up over a defender to hike the Skyhawks’ lead to 33-3. She didn’t draw a foul but was satisfied after watching the ball roll on the rim before falling into the basket.

“I just threw it up,” McQuiston said. “I was like, ‘What do I have to lose?’ [The ball] just spun around and the girl slapped me right on the arm. I was like, ‘Isn’t that an and-1?’ But it went in, and I was happy with it.”

In the closing seconds of the half, McQuiston found herself with the ball after multiple passes and launched a 25-footer from right of the circle. The shot banked in, and the Skyhawks led 43-7.

“I heard the fan section screaming, ‘Five, four, three, two, one!’ ” said McQuiston, who scored all eight of her points in the first half and added five steals and four assists coming off the bench. “I was like, ‘There’s no way [the ball] is getting back to me before I get this shot off, so I just shot it. It went in, and I was like, ‘All right.’”

Johnsburg forced 27 turnovers in the first half, and Marshall finished with 38.

“We’re really aggressive [defensively],” Toussaint said. “We do foul a lot, but not nearly as much as the other team today. We put a lot of pressure on the ball.”

Skye Toussaint (eight steals, three blocks) and Addison Sweetwood each scored seven points for the Skyhawks, who led 55-22 after three quarters. Kaily Delulio (six points) beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer.

Stochl rested her starters in a running-clock fourth.

“I liked our composure,” Stochl said. “We knew that this was going to be a high-energy game. Marshall plays very physical. They play very aggressive. We really tried to focus on good ball movement and composure, trying to control the tempo as much as possible.”