BLUE ISLAND | Despite the way the season ended, first-year Crete-Monee coach Christina Cobbins helped the Warriors take one giant leap forward this year.
Cobbins didn't want to see the season end like this, a 72-50 loss to Mother McAuley in the 4A Eisehower Regional Championship, but Cobbins and the Warriors have built a foundation for future success.
On Thursday night, Mother McAuley used seven three-pointers and 41 points by its starting backcourt to run away with the Eisenhower Regional.
Alexia DeBose led Crete-Monee with 15 points.
"I thought that (Mother McAuley) executed very well," Cobbins said. "It was obviously a veteran team because they stuck to their plan. When the shots were available, they knocked them down.
"And that's what mature players do."
Crete-Monee trailed by only three after the first quarter, but a 13-4 run to start the second quickly built the Mother McAuley lead to double digits.
The Warriors struggled to cut the lead to single digits the rest of the way.
Crete-Monee went into the locker room trailing by nine at the half, but a 15-2 run by Mother McAuley to start the second half quickly padded the Mighty Mac lead.
"You could tell their team was mature and had been playing together a while," Cobbins said. "They knew what they were doing on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively."
Lindzy Cox added 12 points for the Warriors, and Marsha Howard had nine points and five rebounds.
The Crete-Monee offense struggled to gain any type of rhythm and finished with only 16 field goals.
"We got some shots, but we just didn't knock them down," Cobbins said. "With this loss, we're just going to continue to build and be a better team. For the most part, everybody's returning."
The Warriors will only lose two seniors -- Casey Ealey and Morgayne Perry.
"I'm just looking forward to next season," Cobbins said. "I think we're pretty much going to bring more to the table next year.
"It was a crash course for us this time around, and I think that we have a lot to build on."
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