Riley Cwinski gets going as Aurora Central Catholic wins back-to-back regional titles. ‘It means everything to us.’

Coaches have been giving Aurora Central Catholic’s Riley Cwinski the same advice for years.

Despite her height, the 5-foot-9 Cwinski has never been one to shy away from contact while getting to the rim, so the message for her has always been pretty simple.

“All my coaches have told me to keep going,” Cwinski said. “It doesn’t matter. I just go. I find it, and if it’s there, I’m going to go for it.”

Cwinski put those words into action Friday night in the Class 2A Marengo Regional championship game.

The sophomore forward scored a career-high 31 points as the Chargers captured their second straight regional title with a 59-36 victory over the host Indians.

ACC (26-6), which set a new program record for wins in a season last week after capturing its first-ever conference title, will face Byron (29-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Winnebago Sectional semifinals.

“She’s been doing that off and on,” Aurora Central Catholic coach LeVada Smith said of Cwinski. “She’s averaging 16. To put it all together like that, that’s special.”

Cwinski, who recorded her 500th career point Friday, added eight rebounds and five steals to her 31 points. She shot 11 of 15 from the floor.

Sophomore guard Sofia Corral added 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals for ACC.

“It means a lot because our team has worked so hard for it,” Cwinski said. “We broke the school record, back-to-back regionals. I just couldn’t be happier for myself and my team.

“It’s a blast to be a part of, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody but these girls. They’re more than my teammates. They’re like family.”

Marengo (20-10) came out hot, however, taking an 8-0 lead in the first quarter. Still, Smith resisted the urge to call a timeout.

“That’s usually what I do, especially early in the game,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to panic. We go through explosions of scoring, so I never worry.”

The Chargers made their coach look good quickly.

Cwinski scored four straight points to pull ACC into a 9-9 tie. After Marengo took a short-lived 11-9 lead, the Chargers steamrollered to a 20-0 run in taking control.

Corral had 10 points and Cwinski added seven in that stretch, building a 29-11 lead. As usual, Corral and Cwinski were at the center of an offensive eruption.

“Sofia is one of my best friends, and we just have that connection on the court,” Cwinski said. “We’ve played with each other since fifth grade. It’s always been there.”

Although Marengo cut the deficit to 38-27 in the third quarter, another flurry for ACC was about to unfold.

Up 42-29 entering the fourth quarter, the Chargers went on a 17-3 burst to put the win on ice. Cwinski was the driving force this time, scoring 12 of the points.

Smith said runs like that have become the hallmark of ACC’s success the past two seasons.

“It just keeps going,” Smith said. “We’re very athletic. We’re somewhat undersized, but we’re athletic.

“That’s been our motto — get out in transition and beat people down the floor.”

Much of Cwinski’s success came from drawing contact. She ended up shooting 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.

“She’s strong,” Smith said. “She’s playing out of position. We don’t have any quote-unquote post players, but she takes that role and she does great at it.”

Last month, Smith told his team that after winning regionals last season they needed to follow it up by doing it again. The next step is to keep it going.

“I’m like speechless,” Cwinski said. “It shows all the hard work we put in pays off.

“We didn’t even get down on ourselves. We kept going. It means everything to us.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.