Girls Basketball: Fearless Ali helps Hillcrest Hawks soar

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Hillcrest’s Samirah Ali contests a shot by Proviso East’s Stacey Welch on Saturday. | Jon Langham~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 15, 2012 1:38AM

Hillcrest coach John Maniatis needs only two words to describe 5-foot-2 senior guard Samirah Ali.

“No fear,” he said. “No fear. She has no fear and no doubt when she puts herself on that basketball floor.”

Ali scored 16 points, several on acrobatic drives to the basket, and pulled down seven rebounds to lead No. 2 Hillcrest to a 64-52 victory over Proviso East on Saturday at the 22nd Annual McDonald’s Shootout at Willowbrook.

Ali had six points in the first quarter while Hillcrest (17-2) was building a 19-point lead. She later hit a free throw early in the second quarter to extend the lead to 30-10.

“The thing we wanted to do was get the big people out of the game in foul trouble,” Ali said. “That was our key to the game.”

Ali did her part, driving to the basket relentlessly and contributing to Proviso East’s foul count.

“I’m used to it (going to the basket against bigger girls),” she said. “Everybody’s bigger than me.”

The Pirates wouldn’t go away easily, rallying behind 6-1 senior forward Kalea Parks and 6-3 center Jakeisha Wells (15 points, 10 rebounds) to pull to within eight points at 45-38 on a pair of Demetria Watson free throws with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter.

But another patented Ali drive helped Hillcrest re-establish a 15-point lead at 57-42 with 5:43 left in the game. Proviso East (15-7) got no closer than 11 points at 62-51 with 2:32 remaining on a basket by Jakeisha Wells.

Parks had 20 points to lead the Pirates.

Shannise Heady scored 14 points, Marian Awoniyi added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and 6-2 senior Jahmia Phillips returned to the lineup and contributed four points and 11 rebounds for Hillcrest.

Maniatis said he challenged his team before the game to play four quarters.

“We laid a challenge out for the kids about top 25 teams,” he said. “The last couple of times we faced those type of quality opponents like Marist and Trinity, we did not execute for a full four quarters. Today, we came out and played probably our best basketball all year in that first quarter.

“We got caught in a little bit of a lull in the second quarter, and we discussed at halftime in terms of going back to unselfish basketball instead of individual basketball,” he added. “I thought the kids capitalized on opportunities in the second half and we grinded out a win against a quality team.”

Despite her coach’s challenge, Ali said she is more concerned with what Hillcrest can do in the future than what they didn’t do in the past.

“We aren’t worried about games in the past,” she said. “We are just trying to go forward. We have one goal in our mind. What we want at the end of the year is a state championship.”