Girls basketball: Johnsburg holds off Rosary, wins 3rd straight regional title

WOODSTOCK – When Johnsburg senior Macy Madsen drained a 3 with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Class 2A Marian Central Regional title game against Rosary, her teammates, sitting just a few feet behind her on the bench, went berserk.

The ensuing seven-point lead was the largest by either team all game, and for the first time all night, the No. 4-seeded Skyhawks looked like they were a lock to pull off an upset of the No. 1-seeded Royals.

But Rosary had other ideas. It staged an incredible rally, scoring the final seven points of regulation, then forced overtime.

“It all happened so fast,” Madsen said. “You go from thinking you’ve got the title in the bag, to having to fight for our lives again. It was mentally exhausting.”

Undeterred, the Skyhawks (17-14) and Madsen’s senior teammate, Molly Wetzel, who scored the first four points of OT and tallied a game-best 16-points, clamped down for a heart-stopping 44-40 victory.

It was Johnsburg’s third consecutive regional title, not counting last season, when the IHSA canceled the postseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moments after the final horn sounded, Madsen (13 points, 14 rebounds) jumped on Wetzel’s back, and with Wetzel holding the regional title plaque high in the air – and Madsen still clinging to her back – the senior duo posed for photos. Each with enormous smiles on their faces.

It was also the third regional crown for both players, as they’ve been members of the Skyhawks’ varsity squad since they were freshmen.

“To be standing here right now, having this moment ... it’s just unbelievable,” Wetzel said. “There aren’t words to describe how wonderful and amazing this feels.”

There was another significant moment in OT that was overshadowed by Wetzel and Madsen’s performances.

With 24 seconds left in the extra period, and the Skyhawks up by three, sophomore guard Mackenzie McQuiston dribbled 11 seconds off the clock, before the ball wound up in Wetzel’s hands with 12.2 seconds remaining. Wetzel was then fouled. She missed the first free throw, but drained the second, locking up the win.

Prior to Thursday’s win, 15 of Johnsburg’s previous 16 wins had been by nine points or more. Before their regional championship, the last time the Skyhawks won a game by less than nine was on November 18, when they edged Marian Central by four.

Johnsburg now gets the opportunity to play on its own court at least once more. It will host Byron or Rockford Lutheran at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a sectional semifinal.

Rosary, which finished with a 21-12 record, got a team-high 14 points from senior Makenna Donohoe, including a 3 late in the 4th that helped send the game to OT. In OT, Donohoe drained another 3, which made it a one-possession game.

Senior teammate Emily Hurst also scored in double-figures (10 points). But her biggest mark came under the rim, where she pulled down 11 rebounds, while adding six steals.

First-year Royals coach Emily Duckhorn addressed her team in the locker room after the loss, and made sure she praised their valiant collective effort.

“From Day 1, I knew this group would be a wonderful bunch to work with,” Duckhorn said. “They gave it everything they had every time they stepped out on to the court.

“But I never could have known from our first day of practice that we’d be a 20-plus win team, or that we’d be this good. The mark our seniors left is something they can carry with them forever. They don’t have a thing to be ashamed of.”