Furr Sparks Minooka Victory over Romeoville, Joins 1,000-Point Club

Stephanie Furr became the fifth female basketball player in Minooka High School history to score 1,000 career points Friday night against Romeoville.

However, it was her defense that set the tone for the host Indians' 55-41 Southwest Prairie Conference victory.

Furr, who is headed to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, was assigned to Romeoville point guard Abby Smith. The Spartans' sophomore was held scoreless through 3 1/2 quarters, and finished with six points before fouling out in the final minute.

"One of the major points on defense tonight was stopping Abby," Furr said. "We remembered her from last year. She's a really good player. They put me on her and I did the best I can. Everybody else played good defense, too."

 "That was one of the keys to the game and my assistant, Kelly Thompson, suggested it," Minooka coach Ray Liberatore said. "The more we looked at film, we thought it we could stop her and that would make a big difference."

Furr, a 5-foot-10 senior, also was a difference maker on offense by scoring a game-high 26 points. She reached the 1,000-point mark on a basket with 2:21 left in the game.

"Stephanie didn't even know about it," Liberatore said. "She's all about the team. I'm so happy for her. She has worked so hard to get where she's at. Maybe some players have more ability — not to say she doesn't — but she gets the most out of what she has."

"I had no idea," Furr said. "I was so shocked when Coach called the timeout. I saw the posters and everything. I love this team and the coaches."

Minooka (4-2, 2-0 in the SPC) allowed just four field goals during the first half to take a 22-9 lead at the intermission. Romeoville (3-3, 1-1) had as many fouls as points during the first two quarters.

"The first half is when we hurt ourselves," Romeoville coach Julio Carrasco said. "A lot of shots didn't fall and we got into foul trouble. But I can't say enough about how hard these girls worked in the second half to stay in it. In the past, we would have lost that game by 30 or 35 points."

Romeoville scored six points during the first two minutes of the second half to cut the Minooka lead to 25-15. Sara Placher's second 3-pointer of the quarter bumped the Indians' lead to 28-15.

A put-back by Ashley Clemmons gave the hosts a 36-19 lead with 2:09 left in the third quarter.

Furr's bank shot at the buzzer gave the Indians a 38-22 lead heading into the final quarter. Romeoville was no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Clemmons had 13 points for Minooka and Placher added eight. Kiera Currie scored 24 points, which was 61 percent of the offense for the Spartans.

Furr's career point total stands at 1,007.

"We didn't do what we wanted to do tonight," Carrasco said. "We know Stephanie's a great player and we knew we had to stop her to have a chance."