Not even a bloody nose and a uniform change can slow down Marian Catholic’s Alainna Poisson. ‘She steps up.’

Splatter from a bloody nose turned Marian Catholic sophomore Alainna Poisson into a quick-change artist during Thursday’s game against Morgan Park.

“Because I was bleeding consistently, I had to switch jerseys,” Poisson said. “I was trying to hide it with my shirt, but it didn’t work.”

Poisson, who typically wears No. 11, was a picture of joy afterward, smiling even with the No. 31 on her chest.

“It’s a little big on me,” Poisson said. “I like my No. 11 very much. When I first started playing with a girls team, I scored my first bucket with that number. It’s very sentimental to me.”

She will get a chance to wear it again this season after helping lead Marian Catholic to a 45-34 victory in the Class 3A Hillcrest Sectional championship game.

Madison Davis had 17 points and five rebounds for the Spartans (28-7). Khamille Jackson added 10 points, while Taylor Bolton contributed nine points and five rebounds and Gracie Jensen had six rebounds.

LaKeeyah Barnes led Morgan Park (24-10) with 10 points. Mony’e Scott added eight points and six rebounds and Jada Knighton scored six points.

Marian Catholic will play Peoria (27-3) at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Pontiac Supersectional. The Lions defeated Washington 35-29 in the Peoria Richwoods Sectional final.

Poisson, a 5-foot-4 guard, had seven points for the Marian Catholic in the win over Morgan Park. She also scored the most critical basket of the game.

The Mustangs, trailing 37-28, closed within 37-34 with under four minutes remaining when Poisson hit a runner from the left lane to break the momentum.

“I saw that it was coming down to three points,” Poisson said. “I could hear the crowd going, ‘’Score it, score it, score it.’ I was like, ‘OK, let me take this to the rim and let’s get a bucket.’”

A minute later, Poisson had to come out of the game, with blood dripping out of her nose.

“I dove on the floor and got hit right in the head,” Poisson said. “I don’t think it was an elbow. The girl just fell on me and I started bleeding.”

A uniform top change later, Poisson was back on the floor, helping the Spartans hold Morgan Park scoreless the rest of the way.

Marian Catholic coach Dan Murray depends on her as a point guard. On this night, she was big beyond her role.

“She’s been huge for us all year long,” Murray said. “She just does a fantastic job taking care of the ball for us and getting us into the things we want to run.

“Obviously, with the kind of pressure Morgan Park was able to apply, for her to stay composed and hit a couple of big shots for us, I couldn’t be prouder.”

Poisson is another person in her family to stand out as a girls basketball player at Marian Catholic. Her older sister, Janae, is in her final season at Northern Illinois.

“I had a phone call with her before the game,” Poisson said. “We had a nice talk. She’s doing great. She does have a big game Saturday. I know she’s going to go off on senior night, and I hope she does great.”

Alainna, meanwhile, will be hearing from big colleges if she improves at her current pace.

“She’s an extremely hard worker,” Davis said. “She steps up in big times. What a lot of people don’t know is that in the offseason, after school, she’ll come to my house every weekday and shoot around with me in my driveway.

“I knew that this season was going to be her time to take over and step up in big moments like this.”