Shorthanded Chargers end season in Region 4 semifinals

ROCKFORD — Playing shorthanded, the Sandburg women's basketball team saw its season end with an 86-67 loss to Black Hawk on Saturday in the semifinals of the Region 4 Division II District A tournament.

The Chargers played without freshman Paige Huffman for the second game in a row because of illness and were dealt another blow when sophomore guard Gabbie Vontz went down with a leg injury just 35 seconds into the contest and couldn't return.

Despite the absences, No. 5-seeded Sandburg (22-10) put up a valiant effort, but the fourth-seeded Braves eventually pulled away in the second half to deny the Chargers a second straight appearance in the Region 4 title game. Black Hawk will face No. 1 Rock Valley on Saturday for the tournament championship.

The Braves never trailed after Meghanne Freehill's layup midway through the first quarter gave them a 10-9 lead. The Chargers faced a 44-36 deficit at halftime and cut Black Hawk's lead to 50-46 with 5:48 to go in the third after Brook Pieper found Antonia Kisler for a 3-pointer, but that was as close as Sandburg would get the rest of the way. The Braves opened up a 63-52 lead after three quarters and held a double-digit advantage for most of the final period.

Kisler and Tiera Hall each turned in double-doubles for the Chargers in the season-ending loss. Kisler had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-19 shooting. Half of her boards came on the offensive end.

Hall scored 10 points and picked up 11 rebounds for Sandburg. The freshman was 4 of 8 from the field, connected on both of her 3-point tries and had six offensive rebounds. Hall also tied Lillian Covarrubias for the team lead with three steals.

Sophomore forward Brook Pieper fell just shy of a double-double in her final game as a Charger, putting up nine points and a team-best 12 rebounds.

Sophomore Capre Ferguson reached double figures in her Sandburg finale, scoring 11 on 4-of-7 shooting and picking up six rebounds. It marked the first double-digit outing since Dec. 20 for Ferguson, who sustained a knee injury in the following contest. She missed the next 13 games before returning to play limited minutes in the Chargers' two contests before Saturday's semifinal.

Covarrubias played 35 minutes off the bench, scoring 10 points while also contributing six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Black Hawk's Andrea Lopreato led all players with 28 points in addition to matching Pieper for game honors with 12 rebounds. Kaylie Pena had 20 points off the bench for the Braves, who split two regular-season meetings with the Chargers.

Sandburg ended its season with a 22-10 record and earned a share of its second straight Arrowhead Conference championship. The conference title was the 15th in program history for the Chargers, and it was their first repeat Arrowhead championship since 2017. 

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