BLOOMINGTON — For the second straight year, Jessi Sullivan has made it to the state prelims as one of the top shooters in the IHSA Three-Point Showdown.

Sullivan, a junior, finished in the top four of Thursday's competition at Bloomington Central Catholic, site of the BCC vs. Prairie Central Class 2A sectional championshp game.

Eight players competed in the showdown; only the top four would advance to next week's state prelims.

Sullivan made 7 treys, good enough for third place behind Allie Norton of BCC (10) and Tamera Waugh of El Paso-Gridley (8). Erin Henk of Hoopeston Area (6) also made the cut.

Uni senior Samantha Nguyen competed but did not advance, hitting 5 of her shots. She had advanced through four rounds to make it to the sectional final.

In February 2007 Sullivan made it to the state prelims as well, becoming the first Uni player to make it that far since Rebecca Murphy took over as varsity coach in 1994. (Sullivan competed in Class A last year, because at that time IHSA girls basketball was still divided into two classes; the sport is now divided into four classes.)

A total of 32 girls from eight Class 2A sectional sites will compete next week in the 3-point contest at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena as part of the 1A and 2A girls state basketball tournaments. The preliminaries will begin at 5 p.m. Feb. 21, with the 2A shooting finals scheduled for Feb. 22 in between the Class 2A semifinal games at about 8 p.m.

Sullivan and Nguyen began their trek by ranking among the top four shooters before the Uni vs. Georgetown-Ridge Farm regional quarterfinal game on Feb. 6. Sullivan made 7 treys, and Nguyen 6.

Then they finished in the top four the next night prior to the regional semifinal between Georgetown-Ridge Farm and Monticello. Nguyen made 7 treys, while Sullivan won in a shoot-off, finishing with 6.

The pair concluded their week on Friday, shooting before the Monticello vs. Unity regional final. They again placed in the top four, with Nguyen making 7 shots and Sullivan needing another shoot-off to end with 6.

All three regional games took place at St. Thomas More High School in Champaign.

The action this week shifted to Bloomington Central Catholic, site of sectional play. On Monday night, Sullivan and Nguyen finished in the top four again, this time before the Unity vs. Bloomington Central Catholic sectional semifinal.

On Thursday night the pair competed against six other athletes before the 7:30 p.m. sectional final match between BCC and Prairie Central.

In addition to Norton, Waugh, and Henk, the other shooters were:

• Kenber Galloway — Prairie Central
• Jenna Richard — Fieldcrest
• Jackie Sheppard — Prairie Central