LT Sports Roundup: Girls Basketball Finishes Third in Silver, Boys Nearly Come Back Twice

The progress of the Lyons Township girls basketball team this season resulted in a disappointing feeling Friday at York.

The Lions’ last chance to contend for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division came to an end as they lost to the Dukes 47-32 in Elmhurst in the league finale. LT’s Maggie Orlowski had 11 points, including a three-pointer.

The Lions (16-8, 7-5 in Silver) finish third in the final Silver standings, two games behind co-champs York (15-11, 9-3) and Proviso West (19-10, 9-3). Even if the Lions won Friday, Proviso West was earning at least a share of the crown at the same time by beating Downers Grove North 51-27.

“(Those losses) hurt our chances a lot in coming out with a conference title, but we didn’t even come into the season talking about a conference championship because we had more to pursue – just playing well and improving,” LT coach Katie Meyers said.

The Lions split their season series with York and Proviso West but also lost their second conference meetings with Oak Park-River Forest, Hinsdale Central and Glenbard West. As the No. 9 seed in the Class 4A LT Sectional, the Lions open Proviso West Regional play against No. 7-seed Proviso West at 8:10 p.m. Feb. 15 in Hillside.

“When we went on a six-game winning streak, it got with the girls that we are good, we have a chance at winning conference,” Meyers said. “In hindsight, it’s easy to see if we pushed harder here or there we would have been in the mix, but it didn’t work out that way. Overall, the conference season is much improved (for us) than it’s been in a while. It’s been an improvement, but I still want more and I know the girls do, too.”

Other LT contributors against York were Ashanti Davis (6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Clare Polega (6 points), Colleen Connors (4 points, 2 assists), Victoria Swift (3-pointer), Kayla Morrissey (2 points, 4 rebounds) and Sara Beck (3 rebounds).

The Lions shot just 28 percent from the field (8 for 36) with two three-pointers, getting nearly half of their points from 14-for-18 shooting from the free-throw line.

York, which secured a second straight conference crown, led 13-4 after one quarter and 28-14 at halftime. LT had just one offensive rebound in the first half.

“I really think we got outworked. It was a game where we just flat out got beat,” Meyers said. “York had more energy all the way around. It’s always hard for the opponent to endure watching another team celebrate because we went in wanting it really bad. They worked harder than we did.”

On Saturday, the Lions bounced back with a 49-41 victory at Maine West behind Davis (13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals),  Connors (10 points, 3 rebounds), Morrissey (9 points, 3 rebounds), Swift (4 points), Beck (6 rebounds), Orlowski (2 points, 2 rebounds) and Polega (2 points).

Davis, Connors and Morrissey each had three-pointers. LT gained some breathing room in the second half thanks to Connors’ trey and back-to-back steals and layups by Davis.

LT was dragging after Friday night’s game couple with a junior varsity contest Saturday morning at York. Maine West (12-16) was coming off the emotion of beating Niles North in overtime at home Friday to secure at least a share of the Central Suburban League North Division conference title.

“I wasn’t necessarily happy with the game, even though we had a win. I give the girls credit because they went through a long 24 hours, but it was a pretty low-energy game,” Meyers said.

The Lions finished their regular season playing area-ranked Trinity Tuesday and Willowbrook Wednesday in the first year of season-ending crossover games against the same-place finisher in the WSC Gold Division.

LT boys basketball

The Lyons Township boys basketball team couldn’t overcome early deficits in a pair of home losses.

The Lions lost to York 59-50 Friday in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action and then fell to WSC Gold Division opponent Hinsdale South 58-51 after trailing by 17 points at the half.

LT (8-12, 4-4 in Silver) has dropped three in a row after winning its previous six. York (17-7, 6-3) has won 12 straight.

“The six games in a row that we won, we took good care of the ball and made shots. In these last three games, we have not shot the ball very well and we did not take good care of the ball,” LT coach Tom Sloan said.

“We’re trying to make sure they keep their heads up and don’t get down. It’s fundamentals, not passing to the other team, not trying to do too much and reading what a defense is doing and getting a shot that is a good look at the basket for a person that can make that shot.”

Against Hinsdale South (10-10), the Lions trailed 32-15 at halftime but found their shooting touch and nearly rallied. They scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and closed to 38-30 by the end of the period.

LT came as close as 46-43 on Jarryd Heath’s three-pointer with 3:47 to play, but the Hornets scored on their next two possessions on Dijon James’ putback and an inside basket by 6-foot-8 senior Brock Benson, who finished with 21 points. Senior guard Phil George added 20 points.

Kenneth Smith (14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), Chris O’Reilly (11 points, 4 assists) and Heath (11 points) scored in double figures with O’Reilly and Heath each hitting three treys. Matt Robare (7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Chris Antalek (5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) and Jake Dilcher (2 points, 3 rebounds) also contributed.

LT connected on six of its seven three-pointers in the second half to finish 19-for-55 shooting overall (35 percent). The Lions finished with 13 turnovers after 12 in the first half.

In the fourth quarter, Benson had 10 points after a scoreless third quarter in which he was hampered by foul trouble.

“They did a good job of getting the ball to Benson in the fourth quarter when we started to cut into (the deficit). The game boiled down to the first half and then Hinsdale doing enough in the fourth quarter to hold us off,” Sloan said. “They played well in the first half. We did not. Thirty-two points is too many to give up, and 15 is a poor offensive half. When you’re down 17, there’s not a lot of room for error, the other team making plays, us making mistakes or questionable calls.”

Against York, Heath (3 three-pointers, 2 assists) and O’Reilly (3 rebounds, 3 assists) each had 13 points, followed by Smith (9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), Robare (7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists), Zack Mahoney (5 points, 2 rebounds) and Antalek, (3 points, 6 rebounds).

York received a great game from junior guard David Cohn (25 points), who had two three-pointers and sank 11 of 15 free throws. Cohn had 13 of the 20 fourth-quarter points for the Dukes, who made 10 of 16 free throws as a team in the period.

The Dukes took control early with two late baskets in the first quarter to open a 22-13 lead after the Lions cut an 18-7 deficit to 18-13. LT stayed close, however, trailing 32-27 at the half and 39-33 entering the fourth quarter.

O’Reilly had 12 second-half points and eight in the fourth quarter, including two treys. LT was 17-for-43 shooting overall (40 percent) with eight three-pointers and committed 12 turnovers.

“We were in the game and then had to extend our defense and they handled the ball pretty well and made free throws,” Sloan said. “They have good guards and a big kid and they were able to kind of control the tempo of the game, but we turned it over too much and missed open shots.”

The Lions resume Silver action by playing host to Downers Grove North Friday and visiting Oak Park-River Forest Saturday afternoon, followed by a Tuesday game at Proviso West.