Girls Basketball: Post’s Career-High 25 Points Help Lincoln-Way Central Post Playoff Win

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The Hot Read: Rachel Post got Lincoln-Way Central off to a great start by hitting her first four three-pointers while tallying 14 of her team’s first 15 points. No. 17 Thornwood closed the gap to 26-19 at the half but couldn’t take advantage of a height advantage as center Dorothy Taylor was in foul trouble much of the night. The 16th-seeded Knights were able to pull away some in the second half as Post stayed hot and Amanda Gagliano added nine points and five rebounds over the final two quarters.

Patch’s MVP: Lincoln-Way Central’s Rachel Post (25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) tallied seven points in the third quarter–including her fifth three of the game–as the Knights built a 41-28 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Key Stats: The Knights passed the ball well and that resulted in 13 assists while the T-Birds, who relied heavily on offensive rebounds and put-backs, had just five assists. With the 6-foot Taylor leading all players with 14 caroms, Thornwood won the rebounding battle 43-33, but was done in by a 15-for-65 shooting night from the floor and 5-for-12 from the foul line.

Lincoln-Way Central’s Leaders: Rachel Post (25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), Amanda Gagliano (14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals), Hanna Hanlon (5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) and Kayla Pope (4 points, 4 rebounds).

Thornwood’s Leaders: Arielle Miree (13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal), Nicole Brown (7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal), Dorothy Taylor (9 points, 14 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 assist) and Jessica Warren (2 points, 8 rebounds).

Quotable: Knights coach Loren Hess on his team opening the playoffs with a solid all-around game: “It’s nice to see the girls go hard in the regional. We had a tough side of the conference obviously so we scratched and clawed to get the eight wins that we could. It’s good to see the girls turn a halftime lead into a bigger lead at the end.”

Thunderbirds coach Danielle Jania after her team, which started two sophomores, didn’t play as well as she had hoped: “At times (we played) with a lack of heart. But none of these girls had many varsity minutes last year. We’re getting better. We’re improving each year.”

Team Records: Lincoln-Way Central: 9-16 overall, and 3-11 in the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference. Thornwood: 10-15 overall, and 7-7 in the Southwest Suburban conference.

What’s Next: With the win, the Knights advance to Tuesday’s regional semifinals at Providence Catholic. L-W Central will play top-seeded Marian Catholic at 6 p.m., with the nightcap pitting the host Celtics against Richards at 7:30 p.m. contest.