A Treasure of a Senior Night for "The Brook's" Thompson

For the Lady Raiders' 6-foot-2 senior Treasure Thompson, her 2020 senior night before a huge home crowd in Bolingbrook that honored five Lady Raider seniors was beyond special.

All Thompson did was score 20 points, haul down 20 rebounds, block five shots, three steals and dish out two assists to lead Bolingbrook (18-6) past the Associated Press' No. 5-ranked Marist Redhawks, 62-57.

Danyel Middleton (six points, four steals, three assists), Jayden Marable (13 points, six rebounds), Kyla Matthews (seven points, three rebounds) and Alesia Boyd (three rebounds, blocked shot), were the other four Lady Raiders honored by Bolingbrook High School.

Boyd was honored by starting tonight's game with her four other classmates.

After Matthews converted a bucket but missed an opportunity for an old-fashioned three-point play, the Lady Raiders led 52-39 with 5:11 remaining in the game.

Once again, the Lady Raiders' season-long poor free-throw shooting was present throughout the game. After Matthews missed, the Raiders had misfired on 11 of their first dozen free throws.

Marist (22-4), led by their diminutive 5-foot-3 point guard Kira Chivers (11 points) who is an All-Stater, Sydney Affolter (17 points,13 rebounds) went on a 8-0 run to close to within 52-47 with 3:30 remaining.

Matthews broke free for a huge layup to extend the Lady Raider lead to 54-47 with 1:26 left.

With 53 seconds left, Middleton converted on a pair of free throws for a 56-49 Raider lead.

Middleton, who scored all six of her points in the game from the charity stripe along with Marable and Lady Raider super-sophomore Kennedi Perkins (seven points, eight assists) converted five of eight free throws in the last 50 seconds of the game. Marist closed to 60-57 with 11 seconds left.

"It feels really good to get the win here on senior night," Middleton said. "I was very happy to make the big free throws to help us come away with the victory."

"A quality win tonight over a quality team here on Senior Night," Marable said. "Yes, I'm happy to have contributed to our victory, we really have to work on our free-throw shooting."

"We have a lot of work to do but it was good to get this big win, even though we did not play well at the end," Matthews said. "We must improve on our free-throw shooting."

"It was a great Senior Night win for all of us," Boyd said.

For the game, the Lady Raiders, misfired on 17 of their 27 free throws but lived to celebrate a joyous Senior Night in "The Brook".

Behind a first half double-double from Thompson (12 points, 10 rebounds), the Lady Raiders took a 28-19 lead into their halftime locker room. Marable chipped in with six points and four first half rebounds.

With Thompson recovered from her bout with bronchitis and Middleton, Marable, Matthews and Perkins all healthy together, the Lady Raiders put out on a show in the third quarter.

Leading 28-21 in the third quarter, the Raiders went on a 10-1 run to open up a 38-22 lead with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Marable got the run started with a bucket, and Middleton converted 1-of-2 from the free throw line before Matthews scored on a beautiful feed from Middleton for a 34-21 lead. Perkins scored inside

for a 36-22 lead.

6-foot- junior De'ahna Richardson (six points, six rebounds) closed out the 10-1 run with a baseline jumper for a 38-22 Lady Raider lead.

Marist closed to within 38-27 with three minutes remaining in the quarter.

Thompson electrified the crowd with a coast-to-coast lay up and then scored again, on an unbelievable dime dropped by Perkins for a 42-28 Raider lead with 1:11 left.

With 10 seconds remaining in the quarter, the super-sophomore Perkins from behind the backboard, scored to give the Raiders their largest lead of the game at 44-28.

"It sure is great to be over the bronchitis," Thompson said. "Tonight we showed how good we can be. Finally we have been able to all play together for a few games and because of this, we are improving every game. This was a statement game for us. Marist came into tonight ranked as the fifth best team in the state and we really took it to them."

"It was a great Senior Night for all of us."

"We must fix our free-throw shooting problem," Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith said. "We also missed a number of inside shots tonight, as well. We are finally healthy and we are playing very well. I truly believe, we can play with anyone in the state. Marist is one of the state's best teams and we took it to them tonight. If we would have been able to make our free throws, we would have won easily.

"Treasure was amazing tonight and showed everyone, why she is going to LSU. All our seniors were outstanding tonight. Our sophomore Kennedi Perkins is a game-changer."

"We have the talent to win a state championship," Smith added. "If we continue to miss our free throws and easy shots, we will win nothing."