PERU – There was some doubt at the beginning of the girls basketball season from the Amboy squad.

After defeating Rochelle in the first game of the season, senior guard and one of the Lady Clippers main ball handlers, Addison Pertell, broke her thumb and the team lost four of their next five contests.

However, Pertell came back, and Amboy had only lost three games since November coming into the postseason.

As of press time, this is still the case as the No. 2-seeded Lady Clippers (25-7) won an IHSA Class 1A St. Bede Regional Semifinal over No. 10 Putnam County, 55-31, and the regional championship against No. 3 Marquette, 47-29.

The first regional championship for Amboy since 2020.

“I’ve been waiting for this since freshman year. It’s amazing. I’m so happy. I was caught in the moment, and it took me a minute to figure out where I was supposed to cut the net,” Pertell said. “We knew winning the regional was something we could achieve and something we’ve looked forward to all year.

“We knew we could take control of the entire game. We knew we had it in us. We had beat them before. It was just something we knew we could do. This is super important for our group because we’ve been playing together since middle school. I know it’s something we’ve all wanted. To win this together and to know we did it, it’s just incredible.”

In the title game, the Amboy defense had two main objectives, stop No. 20 Kaitlyn Davis and No. 4 Hunter Hopkins as the sophomores led the Lady Crusaders (21-11) past St. Bede is impressive fashion with 24 and 11 points, respectively.

Also, Davis was only two points away from scoring 1,000 career points going into the regional championship.

Davis made a 3-pointer in the first quarter to reach the milestone, but then made one free throw to finish with four points, while Hopkins scored seven.

“We’ve been thinking about winning a regional since the season started. The coaches never gave up and they always believed in us,” said Amboy senior Tyrah Vaessen, who pulled in a game high 15 rebounds. “As a team, we worked every day in practice. We just felt this. This is what we wanted all year. We tied for first in our conference and winning this regional is unbelievable for us.

“After watching her on Tuesday against St. Bede, we knew Davis was a big-time shooter and a key to their offense. Coach McCracken was always preaching to us, ‘Get to 20, get to 20.’ That’s what we had to do against Marquette.”

Offensively, the Lady Clippers had three players knock down a 3-pointer in Vaessen, Pertell, and junior Jillian Anderson and pounded the paint with senior Emily Sachs and junior Bella Yanos.

Yanos led the Amboy charge with 14 points, Pertell finished with 10, Vaessen added eight points, Anderson scored seven, Sachs tallied 11 rebounds and six points, and junior Ellie McLaughlin had two points.

“It feels great. We worked our butts off the entire season for this moment. At first, I didn’t think we were going to make it this far or get 25 wins. But, in the end, we got here and won a regional championship,” Yanos said. “I was driving to the basket like I normally do. If I wasn’t driving to the basket, and somebody was on me, I was just trying to take that open shot. If it went in, it went in, and if it didn’t, I knew someone was on the backside to get the rebound and put back up.

“It means a lot to be part of this group. I’ve played with Tyrah, Emily, and all of them for so many years. I knew they wanted to get to this moment since we fell short last year. I knew they wanted to get here. We did it. I’m really happy to win this with this group of girls.”

Coach Mike McCracken was well aware of the slow start to the season and to the regional final.

But as always, the trust he has in his team prevailed and the girls responded by winning the first regional final for the Amboy girls program in five years.

“After a bad start to the game, we played pretty well. Our defense was great for a long time. We got a little out of whack for awhile and they were shooting further and further away,” McCracken said. “With their shooting range and their shooting ability, it’s never over.

“I told them before the game started, ‘I’m not much on calling timeouts because I believe in you. I know you can get through it.’ Our first few points were free throws. It took us awhile to get our first basket, but then we went ahead 14-13 and they stayed on 13 for a long time.

Amboy plays Chicago Morgan Park Academy in a Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock Semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 25, which is after press time but before The Amboy News is published.

If they win Tuesday, the Lady Clippers will play the winner of Yorkville Christian and Elgin St. Edward in the sectional championship at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27.

Regional semifinal

Amboy 55,

Putnam County 31

Yanos also led the Amboy scoring attack on Tuesday as she recorded 19 points.

Pertell and Anderson scored nine each, Vaessen had six points, sophomore Alexa McKendry chipped in five, and McLaughlin added two.

The Lady Clippers were ahead 12-4 after the first quarter, 20-11 at halftime, and 39-20 after three quarters.