Geneva’s Emma Peterson ripped a potential rebound away from Crystal Lake South’s Tessa Melhuish during the closing moments of Thursday’s IHSA Class 3A Crystal Lake Central Sectional girls basketball championship.

The 6-foot sophomore’s effort was symbolic of Geneva’s collective physicality on the glass. Three players finished with at least seven rebounds for the Vikings, who more than doubled the Gators up on the boards in a 43-33 victory. Peterson posted 15 points and 15 rebounds for Geneva, which outrebounded South 42-18 in the win.

“Our shots weren’t falling in the first half, so rebounding and getting second chances were big,” Peterson said. “It was a big change because we were able to get second shots and they were falling in. ... We had each other’s backs and we were all there for each other.”

The No. 5-seeded Vikings (18-14), who started the season with seven straight losses, advance to face St. Viator in the Woodstock North Supersectional on Monday.

Despite a slow-shooting start, Geneva rallied off a 7-0 run late in the first quarter, where the Vikings held South to one field goal.

“I’ve been dreaming about this for so long,” said Geneva freshman Adelyn Estabrook, who sparked the Vikings early and finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. “We kept shooting and we realized that we could draw fouls and shoot free throws. I had confidence, I believed in myself and I knew I could drive. ... It’s unbelievable.”

Looking for their first-ever sectional title, the Gators (26-7) fell behind by as many as eight points in the first half. But a stellar showing from senior guard Laken LePage, who at one point scored 10 straight for her team, helped the No. 1 seed South fight back. Behind LePage’s scoring spurt, the Gators led 15-14 at halftime.

“My coaches were telling me that I needed to find my shot,” said LePage, who will play collegiately at Saint Xavier. “I wasn’t very hot at the start, but I kept shooting and I kept pushing so I could give us a little bit of life. ... The gym was loud and it’s a lot of pressure, but we just kept our calm and we kept trying to find shots.”

A step-back jumper from LePage opened the third quarter for the Gators, who also saw Makena Cleary make a difficult floater off glass to help South maintain its slim lead. But the Vikings, who closed the quarter on a 10-0 run, took control of the game with their dominance on the boards and second-chance opportunities.

“We’re a good rebounding team,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “When we weren’t making shots in the first half, we knew we had to hone in on that and get some easy putbacks or give us a second chance. Offensively, I thought we had the shots we wanted in the first half. They weren’t falling, but we stayed the course.”

Geneva took a 33-25 lead into the fourth quarter, where Peterson asserted herself in the paint with layups and putbacks over the smaller South interior defense. Keira McCann, who compiled eight points and four rebounds for the Vikings, made a pair of running shots off glass to extend Geneva’s lead into double figures.

“They’re bigger than us at pretty much every position and we talked about that right from the get-go,” South coach Mark Mucha said. “We wanted to focus on rebounds and obviously, tonight, we couldn’t check that off our list. That might’ve been the difference.”

LePage finished with a team-high 18 points for the Gators, whose sectional championship appearance Thursday night was their first since 2009. South tied the program record with 26 wins.

The Vikings, who held South’s standout sophomore Gaby Dzik to three points, are sectional champs for the first time since the 2022-23 season when they took third at state in 4A.

“We started out 0-7 and they just stayed with it,” Meadows said. “They stuck with it, they kept working and we’re having a great end of the year. ... They just get better every single day and they’re just learning from this experience. They’re embracing this experience.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/2026/02/27/geneva-controls-the-glass-knocks-off-crystal-lake-south-in-class-3a-sectional-final/