Lincoln-Way West Rallies to Beat Pesky Thornton

Lincoln-Way West senior Sara Losacco is known for being a hard-nosed player willing to do anything to help her girls basketball team win.

The 5-foot-5 guard certainly demonstrated that Tuesday, but her scoring ability has taken on added significance with the injury to leading scorer Kaitlyn Ray, who is out with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Losacco scored a game-high 20 points to help Lincoln-Way West rally for a 40-36 Southwest Suburban Conference Red victory over Thornton Tuesday night in New Lenox.

“With (Kaitlyn) Ray out, somebody had to step up,” Losacco said. “I tried to do that. I think we’re going to have somebody different step up every night.”

The Warriors (14-2) were playing their second game without Ray, who is averaging close to 17 points, but still managed to remain perfect in the conference at 6-0.

Thornton (6-9, 3-3 in SSC Red) scored the first nine points, but the Warriors answered with an 18-0 run of their own to jump ahead and held an 18-12 cushion after one quarter and 26-23 halftime lead.

The Wildcats, however, began the fourth quarter with an 11-2 spurt to jump ahead 34-28 with 4:10 remaining and led 36-33 with 1:35 left, but Lincoln-Way West closed the game on a 7-0 run to pull out the win.

“I was real happy with the heart that they showed,” Lincoln-Way West coach Ryan White said. “We’re usually a team that plays well when we have the lead, so to be down early in the game and be down late in the game and battle back is great to see. It’s a position we haven’t been in a lot this season. I was happy to see how they reacted to a little adversity.”

The biggest adversity is playing without Ray.

“She’s going to get a brace fitted at some point and then she’s going to try and play on it and finish out the year,” White said. “I don’t know what the timeframe is yet. We miss the scoring aspect, but she’s also a four-year varsity player who provides leadership.”

A basket by Samantha Villa with 1:25 left put the Warriors ahead for good at 37-36 and Kelsey Christiansen hit three free throws in the final 41 seconds to help seal the victory.

Lincoln-Way West got solid efforts from Villa (9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals), Christiansen (5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Jessica McDonald (4 points, 4 rebounds) and Nikki Sieger (2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals).

Losacco added eight steals and two rebounds and also took two charges.

“She’s kind of the engine that makes this train run,” White said. “She did an awesome job. With Kaitlyn out, someone’s got to pick up the scoring for us. Some night’s it’s going to be Sam (Villa), some nights it’s going to be Sara or Jessica (McDonald). Tonight, it was Sara and she did an outstanding job, not only scoring, but handling the ball and handling the pressure.”

Lincoln-Way had 17 steals and forced seven turnovers in the decisive fourth quarter, thanks in part to its strong full-court pressure.

“Our whole team is scrappy,” Losacco said. “That’s what our team is about.”

Thornton was led by JazJuan Wallace-Sipp (10 points, 12 rebounds), who fouled out with 1:52 left, and Ariel Sneed (13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals).