St. Edward’s Savannah Lynch was excited for the biggest night of her high school career.
But then minutes into Monday’s game, the sophomore guard suffered an injury to her left hand and had to sit out the majority of the first quarter. The plan got changed, if only for a moment.
“I had to get it taped,” Lynch said afterward. “It was (bothering me) a little bit, but once I got it wrapped, I knew it was nothing major. I was able to play through it and get the win.”
Another big win, at that.
Lynch responded by scoring nine straight points upon her return in the second quarter to lead the Green Wave to a 56-43 win over Willows in a Class 1A Harvest Christian Supersectional in Elgin.
The 5-foot-10 Lynch led all scorers with 22 points for St. Edward (26-10), which advanced to an 11:15 a.m. Thursday state semifinal at CEFCU Arena in Normal against Pecatonica (30-6).
Jordin Sauls added 12 points and Maggie Jarzemsky grabbed nine rebounds off the bench.
Caroline Schuler scored 17 points to pace Willows (26-9), which forced a 19-19 tie during the second quarter before the Green Wave got back going once Lynch came back into the game.
St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson was just happy her team maintained a lead in the first quarter without Lynch, who had led the Green Wave to their first sectional title since the 2016-17 season.
“Savannah struggled early with that injury,” Dawson said of her star player. “She came through and everybody else stepped up. She was not herself, but everybody else was there to cover.”
Lynch relied on adrenaline to play through it, doing what she had to do to get St. Edward to state.
“I really have to thank my teammates,” she said. “I didn’t think about it and kept playing my game.”
Different teammates aided Lynch at different times Monday. After Lynch exited the game, Ginger Younger came off the bench and hit two big shots to help the Green Wave grab a15-6 lead.
Younger, a transfer from Hampshire, is in her first season at St. Edward. And she was ready.
“We practiced this 100 times,” she said. “Savannah is a really big role model. She does a lot of things and she teaches us. We have to stick together as a team sometimes.
“With our coaching, we were all ready. She fought through it.”
Willows tied the game 19-19 with 2:15 left in the second quarter, but Lynch found another level.
“I think we all knew we needed to push the pace and get something going,” Lynch said. “Me getting something going really helped open things up for all my teammates.
“That gave us the momentum we needed.”
Lynch followed by hitting a 3-pointer and converting a layup off a steal, sandwiched around four free throws, to give the Green Wave a 28-19 lead they did not relinquish.
“She’s been just a joy to coach,” Dawson said of Lynch. “She’s not selfish. She’ll do what our team needs her to do to get the win. The entire team is so unselfish. I’m just very proud of them.”
After Willows cut the deficit to 32-29 in the third quarter, Lynch drilled a 3-pointer to end the run. Then in the fourth, Sauls scored seven points to fuel an 11-0 run that put the game out of reach.
Lynch started to believe that a run to state was possible as the season unfolded. As the Green Wave got healthier and learned how to play together, things began to fall into place.
“We made a goal chart, and one of our goals was getting to state,” Lynch said. “We knew we could achieve it.”
Indeed, the Green Wave have achieved that goal and now have a chance to add a state championship trophy to go with the one the program won in the 1984-85 season.
“It’s amazing,” Lynch said. “We’re all emotional. We’re just really happy to get down there.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
