Hoskins wills the Mohawks to win

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By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer Updated 12:18 AM Thursday, March 11, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Lindsay Hoskins was unstoppable.

The Madison High School girls basketball senior wasn’t about to let anything get in her way of taking her team back to the Division III regional finals where the Mohawks season ended in disappointment a year ago.

Hoskins battled double teams all night as she brought the ball up the court and still recorded a triple double with a team-high 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

Mohawks coach John Rossi Jr. said Hoskins “willed us to this win.”

“I told her before the game she was going to will us through this,” Rossi said. “She never came out of the game and gave us 32 minutes of everything she had. What else can you say?”

Hoskins was 5-of-10 shooting and made all 10 of the Mohawks free throws by going 10-of-14 at the charity stripe.

“This feels amazing,” Hoskins said. “I didn’t know it would feel this good because we were here last year.

“Pushing through them was the key,” she continued. “When they scored, we fought back and scored too. We were finishing down low and fought with them all night.”

Africentric only had two leads in the game. One was on the first score (2-0) and the other was at the end of the first quarter (17-16).

“I don’t know if that was our best game of the year, but I’ve never seen us play so hard,” Hoskins said. “It means more to you when you do that. We refused to lose.”

Uncharted territory

The Africentric girls team isn’t used to ending its season this early.

The Nubians have been in the Division IV state championship game the last three consecutive years, winning the title in 2007 and 2009.

“Certainly we’re disappointed,” said Africentric boys coach Michael Bates, who was subbing for girls coach Will McKinney due to a sudden illness. “They’re not used to being out this early and they don’t want to get used to it. While they are sad right now, I think this has really stoked up their fire for next year.”

Lehman gets defensive

Senior Adrianne Lehman basically had one job Wednesday night: Stop Raven Ferguson.

While Ferguson still scored a game-high 23 points, Lehman was in her face constantly and was part of the reason Ferguson’s game-tying shot attempt was off the mark.

“Coach told me to get in her face,” said Lehman of that final play. “I had to do this. I wanted to play my best game ever.

“I know I should have boxed her out, but when I saw Brittany (Shields) grab the rebound, I was never so happy in my life,” she continued. “It was the greatest feeling to know she didn’t score.”

Malott on the bench

Ally Malott is not used to being on the bench at the end of a close game, but that’s exactly where she found herself against Africentric.

Malott fouled out with 1:15 left to play after being called for a block on Ferguson, who then nailed the two free throws to cut Madison’s lead to 56-51.

“I wasn’t upset at the call, just at myself for not being out there to help my team,” Malott said. “It’s the first time I’ve fouled out all year.

“It was tough to sit there, but I had all the confidence in my team,” she continued. “Now we get to play at least one more game. This feels really good.”

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