Box Score PALATINE, IL-  The sixth-seeded Harper College women's basketball team faced off against two-seed Joliet Junior College on Tuesday night in the Region IV Quarterfinals at Joliet on Tuesday.  In the win-and-advance playoff game, the Hawks fell 78-39, ending their 2017-18 season.

As has been the case for a majority of the season, a strong first quarter put the Hawks up early, breathing hope into the visitors' bench.  At the end of the first, the Hawks were leading the nationally ranked Wolves 20-19.  But the Hawks, who played the last few games with 5 players, would run out of gas early and Joliet would take advantage.  Harper failed to match their first quarter scoring total through the last three quarters combined.  Further hurting the Hawks' chances was a lack of shots as they committed 44 turnovers and only got off 39 shots.

Bright spots from the game were Ashley Shapiro and Kaela Drum, who finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds each.  Shapiro also added 3 assists.  Over the course of the season, Shapiro gave opposing fits as the 5'10 forward from Palatine only scored under double digits in one game and finished averaging 17.5 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game.  Through the last 6 games of the season, Drum played at another level as she averaged 14.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. 

Head coach Sean Stochl was proud of his five girls who stuck it out through a trying season.  "We had 12 different girls get minutes throughout the year.  Then with grades and injuries we ended up with the five we had play tonight.  Add that on to the fact that we didn't have a campus gym this semester, I am very happy with the way the girls competed this season.  What they went through, it would have been easy for them to quit but it shows a lot about their character that they stuck it out and played well."

In Stochl's first season with the team, the Hawks finished 7-21 and 4-10 in N4C play.  The 7 overall wins were the program's most since 2014-15 and the 4 conference wins were topped only by the 2012-13 team.  "That goes to show you the type of talent that we had on this year's team.  There were times we put everything together and nobody could stop us.  We should be in for a big year next year with at least 5 of our girls returning," Stochl said.