LT Roundup: Basketball Teams Begin Holiday Tournaments

After not playing in nearly two weeks, the Lyons Township girls basketball team resumed its recent hot streak on Monday.

The Lions (8-2) have now won their last five games, and are the No. 4 seed at Wheaton North’s Bill Neibch Falcon Classic, the 16-team tournament that runs from Monday through Thursday.

LT flattened Elgin, 70-15, in Monday’s tourney opener to advance to the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday against fifth-seeded Elk Grove.

Leading LT were Ashanti Davis (14 points, six rebounds), Colleen Connors
(12 points with two three-pointers, five rebounds), Kayla Morrissey (eight points), Victoria Swift (eight points with two three-pointers), Taylor
Bastyr (seven points), Katie Callahan (four rebounds) and Morgan Houk (three steals).

LT scored the last 26 points of the first half, including 20-0 in the
second quarter, to open a 34-2 halftime lead. All Falcon Classic games are being broadcast live on the Internet at http://www.ihigh.com/wnhs/

“It’s a tremendous opportunity. Every team out there is good,” Meyers said. “Either way, it’s going to be great competition, but you can’t take anybody for granted. Our tendency is to play to the level of our competition. That’s not going to be enough when it comes down to the tournament. We have to make sure we’re playing to our potential and playing our best.”

Back on Dec. 13, the Lions won their last game 36-28 at Glenbard West to move to 2-1 in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division. LT also had defeated Riverside-Brookfield (48-41 Dec. 10) and Oak Park-River Forest (57-48 Dec. 6) at home and at Hinsdale Central (58-41 Dec. 3) during the current winning streak after losing their Silver opener at Proviso West 54-47 Nov. 29.

LT went 3-1 at its annual season-opening home tournament, beating Queen of Peace (64-32 Nov. 18), West Chicago (56-39 Nov. 22) and Oak Forest (51-40 Nov. 26) while losing to Downers Grove South 37-19 Nov. 19.

Senior Colleen Connors is the lone returning starter, but junior Ashanti Davis, seniors Clare Polega, Maggie Orlowski, Lauren Gronke and Clare Hogan also are varsity returnees. Connors, Polega and Orlowski are team captains.

Freshman guard Victoria Swift has made an immediate impact. Moving up from last year’s sophomore team are sophomore Kayla Morrissey and juniors Taylor Bastyr, Sara Beck, Katie Callahan, Catherine Dine, Morgan Houk and Ellen Rohan.

The Lions already are on the verge of surpassing last year’s record of 9-18 (4-8 in Silver) in Meyers’ first year as head coach. Lauren Sirus is the varsity assistant coach.

“I think the girls have a much under understanding of our system this year. I know we’re only going to get better,” Meyers said. “I hope to see even more improvements throughout the season as they become more disciplined with what the coaching staff envisions. Obviously, we also have some very great athletes.”

Connors, Davis, Polega, Orlowski, Swift, Morrissey and Beck have been seeing the majority of playing time. Meyers said she hopes for others to see more playing time at Wheaton North, such as Houk and Dine. Beck has been sidelined with concussion-like symptoms from the Glenbard West game.

Connors and Davis share the overall scoring lead for a balanced attack in which LT has had two or three players score in double figures seven times. Davis also leads the team in steals, assists and blocks, and Beck leads the team in rebounds. Swift has a team-high seven three-pointers, and Connors has made nearly twice as many free throws than anyone else on the team.

Connors had 17 points against Oak Forest with two three-pointers, 12 against OPRF and 11 vs. Glenbard West by hitting 11 of 13 free throws, most of them in the fourth quarter.

Davis had 16 points against Queen of Peace on 7-for-11 shooting with two three-pointers and 14 points against Glenbard West. Davis added seven steals against Hinsdale Central and eight rebounds against Proviso West.

Beck had 11 points against Hinsdale Central on 5-for-8 shooting with nine rebounds.

Swift scored 16 points against OPRF, hitting 7 of 8 free throws, and 14 against West Chicago with two three-pointers.

“Our scoring is nicely balanced right now,” Meyers said. “It really helps to have more than one of two threats. I feel real lucky as a coach to have that kind of personnel.”

LT girls leaders through the Lions' first nine games

Scoring: Colleen Connors and Ashanti Davis 88 points (9.8 ppg), Victoria Swift 67, Sara Beck 66, Clare Polega 51, Kayla Morrissey 37, Clare Hogan 32
Three-point field goals: Swift seven, Connors six, Davis five
Free throws made: Connors 42, Polega 23, Swift 22, Beck 16, Morrissey and Davis 15, Orlowski 12
Rebounds: Beck 50, Davis 43, Polega 37, Orlowski and Morrissey 20, Swift 19, Connors 18
Assists: Davis 15, Connors 12, Orlowski nine
Steals: Davis 20, Connors 19, Polega nine
Blocks: Davis seven

LT boys basketball

The Lyons Township boys basketball team hopes to convert some close games into victories during its four games at York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic Tuesday through Friday.

The Lions (1-7) open against No. 4-seeded Waubonsie Valley at noon Tuesday. The winner faces No. 5-seed Naperville North or Kenwood at 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday and the losers meet at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. (The entire bracket is included as a PDF)

LT hasn’t played since losing at home to Prospect 71-63 Dec. 17 after a 65-56 loss at York the previous night to fall to 0-2 in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division. Four of the Lions’ last six losses have been by single digits, two by five points or fewer.

“The kids played about as well as we have all year (against Prospect). We’re pleased with the effort. We’re disappointed with the outcome,” LT coach Tom Sloan said after the game.

“We’re looking forward to this week of practice (prior to the Tosh Classic) to get better. We’ll have to be focused and sharp and make sure that the kids get plenty of time to study (for final exams), but it’s an opportunity for us to get better.”

It’s been a season of learning for the Lions, who graduated their entire starting lineup and their top seven players from last year’s 26-3 team that won a second straight Silver title with a perfect 12-0 record and reached the Class 4A sectional finals before losing to eventual state champion Simeon.

Senior Kenneth Smith leads the Lions in scoring (13.75 points per game), while other leaders include senior Matt Robare in rebounds (4.9 per game), junior Jarryd Heath in three-pointers (12), junior Chris O’Reilly in steals (14), Smith and Robare in assists (23), senior Chris Antalek in blocked shots (5) and senior David Reed in charges taken (five).

Seniors Joe Carroll and Jake Dilcher also have played in all eight games. Other team members are senior Devonta Smith and juniors Matt Aikens, Parker Beck, Jemari Burks, Gabe Fisher, Zack Mahoney, Connor Onion and Robert Palmer.

Smith (18 points with two three-pointers, six assists), reserve Heath (16 points with four three-pointers, six rebounds, five assists), Robare (10 points, six rebounds, five assists) and O’Reilly (10 points with two three-pointers) were big contributors against Prospect.

The Lions led Prospect 32-24 at halftime but then the Knights’ Mike LaTulip caught fire. A preferred walk-on at Illinois next season, the 6-foot LaTulip had just five points in the first half but then exploded for 21 in the second half, including five three-pointers while the Lions went scoreless for roughly four minutes in the third quarter. LT got as close as four points in the waning moments, but the Knights hung on by hitting free throws.

“We defended (LaTulip) as well as we could have and he hit from 22, 23 feet, tough shots,” Sloan said. “We moved well offensively. We shot the ball well (22 for 63 with 8 three-pointers), didn’t really turn the ball over much (11), played good defense, challenged shots, rebounded, ran the floor so I was very pleased with how we played.”

At York, Smith (15 points), Robare (12 points, five rebounds, five assists) and reserve Heath (11 points, six rebounds, three assists) also scored in double figures, and O’Reilly had 10 rebounds.

LT finished with a season-high 21 turnovers after having as many turnovers as points when trailing 20-15 at halftime.

“Our record is 1-7 so we’re a 1-7 team, but I see us improved. We’ve had good stretches and then we’ve had bad lulls on both ends of the floor and we need to kind of figure those things out,” Sloan said.

“Between the second half of (York) and all of (Prospect), we shot it pretty well. I thought we played pretty good defense both nights. The difference was we had a bad first half (at York) and we had a slow start to the second half (with Prospect) and they made a bunch of shots.”

The Lions lost their Silver opener to Glenbard West 59-46 Dec. 9 in La Grange and lost at home to Sandburg 41-36 Dec. 10 with just three points in the third quarter.

At the annual LT Thanksgiving Tournament, LT won its season opener over Argo 72-59 Nov. 23 and lost to Fenwick 74-61 Nov. 25 and Morton 47-44 Nov. 26. The Lions also lost 78-60 at Riverside-Brookfield Dec. 3.

LT outscored Argo 21-6 in the first quarter and was led by Smith (18 points, five rebounds), Robare (15 points with two three-pointers, 5 rebounds), O’Reilly (10 points, eight rebounds, five assists) and Carroll (nine points, three assists). Morton outscored LT 23-8 in the third quarter.

LT boys leaders after eight games

(1-7 overall, 0-2 in West Suburban Conference Silver Division)
Scoring: Kenny Smith 110 points (13.75 ppg), Matt Robare 68, Chris O’Reilly 65, Jarryd Heath 53, Joe Carroll 41, David Reed 35
Three-point field goals: Heath 12, Robare nine, O’Reilly and Smith five
Free throws made: Smith 19, Carroll 12, Robare 11, O’Reilly 10, Reed nine
Rebounds: Robare 39, O’Reilly 38, Smith 33, Jake Dilcher and Carroll 22, Chris Antalek 20
Assists: Smith and Robare 23, O’Reilly 20, Reed and Carroll 17, Heath 12
Steals: O’Reilly 14, Smith 13, Reed 10, Carroll 9
Blocks: Antalek five, O’Reilly three
Charges taken: Reed five