PEORIA — What was supposed to be an epic battle of the state's top two Class 3A teams turned into bad news for top-ranked Peoria High.
Lions all-stater Aaliyah Guyton went down with a knee injury midway through the second quarter as No. 1 Peoria High lost to No. 2 Lincoln, 57-25, in the title game of the 45th annual Manual Holiday Tournament on Friday night. These girls basketball squads are scheduled to meet again in Peoria on Jan. 20 and are also in the same sub-sectional and could meet in the state playoffs.
"(Guyton's injury) took a lot of air out of us," Peoria High coach Meechie Edwards said. "… We haven't played without her. … Here in a big game like this tonight – No. 1 vs. No. 2. That took a lot of me. Man, that was big."
Trailing by one, Peoria High senior guard Danielle Ruffin corralled a Lincoln turnover and found Guyton just past halfcourt. The Iowa recruit raced in to make a layup at the 3:46 mark of the second quarter but fell to the floor in pain.
Aaliyah's dad, A.J. Guyton , says he didn't get a good look at the play, but his daughter told him she planted her foot when going up for the lay-in. The reigning Journal Star player of the year said her knee "moved" during the non-contact injury.
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"She must have jolted her knee," the former Indiana all-American said. "… It wasn't good, so we held her out."
Guyton remained on the end of the bench with an ice pack on her elevated right knee for the rest of the game. The plan is to get Aaliyah in for an MRI on Saturday morning, according to A.J.
"Just praying it was nothing serious," he said. "I was hoping it was her ankle, but it wasn't her ankle."
Her final bucket was part of a 10-4 push to give Peoria High a 21-19 lead going into halftime.
But the Lions managed just four second-half points all coming from the free-throw line — a 4-for-12 effort. Peoria High (16-1), which suffered its first loss since March's state semifinal defeat , went 0-for-19 from the field with 11 turnovers in the final 16 minutes.
Jakiyah Jordan posted team-highs with nine points and five rebounds for the Lions, who finished 24.3 percent (9-of-37) from the field.
"We have not shot like that ever," said Edwards, whose team was also outrebounded, 32-15. "We just couldn't make anything."
Guyton's absence as the team's primary ballhandler and scorer was sorely missed.
"We pray to God to make sure everything is OK," Edwards said. "I'm hoping it is. Maybe just a little stinger. She's got bigger and better things than high school. We do love (having her). We do well together, but hell, she's going to the Big Ten (Conference) .
"We want to make sure she's ready for the Big Ten."
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As poorly as Peoria High shot, Lincoln was almost the exact opposite.
The Railsplitters (17-0) hit 44 percent (22-for-50) of their field goals, led by Kloe Froebe , who missed Thursday's semifinal win over Dunlap with a sore foot. The 5-foot-9 senior guard was assertive in getting to the basket, scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to go with five assists. Piper Whiteman added 11 points, while Becca Heitzig added 10 and five rebounds.
"When (opponents) go a little bit of a man-to-man, we know that we got to attack the basket and just kick out," said Froebe, a Colorado State recruit . "That's our game plan, really.
"We had a lot of screens set and so I was just coming off of those. My teammates were able to help me out by being such great shooters."
Following the game, Froebe and Guyton shared a moment.
"The comeback is better than the setback," Froebe said of what she told her fellow Division-I signee. "That's something that I tell myself often especially when I got hurt, so I wanted to make sure that she just mentally stayed strong.
"It's hard to see any player go out, especially one of their best players. She's a tremendous player. Speaking from personal experience, I know how hard that is mentally and obviously, physically, so I'm just hoping that she has a speedy recovery."
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Iowa recruit Aaliyah Guyton of Peoria High leaves with injury
