LT Sports Roundup: Girls Basketball Defeat Silver Leaders; Boys Extend Winning Streak to Six

Lyons Township point guard Victoria Swift hasn’t just earned the confidence of coach Katie Meyers to start on the varsity girls basketball team as a freshman.

Meyers wants Swift to take advantage of her three-point opportunities.

“I don’t give many players green lights to shoot when they have an open look and I’m telling her she can shoot when she has an open look,” Meyers said.

“Even when she’s sub-30 percent, I will be OK with it because I know she has such talent for shooting beyond the arc.”

In Saturday’s Pack the Place home game, Swift played and shot with that confidence. It contributed to the Lions’ biggest victory so far this season, 57-48 over West Suburban Conference Silver Division frontrunner Proviso West in La Grange.

Swift, who averages 7.4 points per game, finished with 18 points and four three-pointers, three of them in an 11-point first half that helped the Lions (14-6, 6-3 in Silver) establish control of the game from the beginning.

Other key contributors included Colleen Connors (12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals), Kayla Morrissey (8 points, 2 rebounds), Ashanti Davis (8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals), Clare Polega (5 points, 3 rebounds), Maggie Orlowski (4 points, 2 rebounds) and Sara Beck (2 points, 5 rebounds). Davis, the team’s No. 2 leading scorer, battled foul trouble most of the night.

“To go ahead and beat Proviso West, who was definitively the conference leader, it was huge for our momentum. Confidence is so important for any athlete and this is just giving us more momentum as we approach our games down the road in crunch time,” Meyers said.

“Victoria was instrumental in this victory. Her confidence from the three-point arc was great. I would make a very strong argument this is her best game (offensively) because it was great competition and to perform and score 18 points against the conference leader, that’s something that can’t be overlooked as a coach.”  

The Silver race now is tight as ever, thanks mostly to the Lions. Proviso West (15-8, 6-2) fell into a tie for first in the loss column with York (10-10, 5-2), which LT defeated 46-44 in overtime Jan. 17.

York and Proviso West meet Jan. 28 in Hillside. The Lions’ final Silver game is at York Feb. 2.  

Proviso West had been on an eight-game winning streak since losing to St. Joseph 49-47 Dec. 17. The Panthers beat the Lions in their Silver opener 54-47 Nov. 29 in Hillside.

“We had the lead early on in the first game (against Proviso West), but we didn’t shut the door all of the way. Today, we didn’t let them back in permanently,” Meyers said.

“We definitely had control today. There would be points where Proviso West would try to sneak back in. We kept them out and controlled the tempo the whole time. That was really important to play four quarters of basketball. Tonight was the first time in quite some time where we played four quarters against a good team. (And) we definitely played together the whole game.”  

The Lions led 19-14 after one quarter, 28-24 at halftime and 41-35 after three quarters.

The Panthers closed to 45-40 with 3:22 to play and later 51-45 with 1:01 left. After a timeout and with Proviso West pressing, Morrissey threw a baseball-style downcourt inbounds pass to Davis, who scored and was fouled and converted the three-point play for a 54-45 advantage.

It was the first basket of the quarter by the Lions, who made 12 of 19 free throws in the quarter and 24 of 38 for the game, compared with 9 of 20 for the Panthers. Swift added the game’s final basket on a layup with 12 seconds left after the Lions withstood defensive pressure in the backcourt.

A senior co-captain, Polega quickly left the court after the game with illness. Polega made probably the defensive play of the game when she took an offensive charge on a driving basket by Jasmine Jackson, which would have made the score 48-42 with 2:38 left.

Polega fouled out with 36.5 seconds left, but the Panthers did not convert the free throws. LT worked the ball before Orlowski hit a free throw for a 55-48 lead with 26.6 seconds to go.

“Clare Polega was our Most Valuable Player. She gave us defensive boxouts everywhere on the floor. She took a charge at a key moment,” Meyers said. “For Clare to step up and take that great defensive positioning and take the hit, it was awesome. I was more like a fan in that possession. I was jumping out of my seat.”

The Lions have back-to-back home games against St. Joseph (17-6) Friday and Glenbard West (7-14, 2-6) Saturday in Silver action.

LT boys basketball

The Lyons Township boys basketball team seemed in control Saturday, leading Proviso West by 22 points entering the fourth quarter.

LT coach Tom Sloan was taking no chances.

“Last weekend, (Proviso West) was down 20-plus both nights and won.  Our kids had that in our head that we can’t let up,” Sloan said.

“Even with four minutes left and a 20-point lead, (assistant coach Jeff Johnson) and I are sitting on the side saying, ‘All right, we’ve got to continue to do the things that we’ve been doing all game.”

The Lions didn’t let up, and haven’t so far in 2012. They won their sixth game in a row and remained perfect in the new year as they prevailed 63-35 in front of a Pack the Place crowd in La Grange after winning at rival Hinsdale Central 66-54 Friday.

LT (8-9) finishes the first half of West Suburban Conference Silver Division play at 4-2 after losing its first two league games to Glenbard West and York. The Lions visit Glenbard West Saturday.

Against Proviso West (7-9, 3-3 in Silver), Chris Antalek had team highs of 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots along with three assists.

Overall leading scorer Kenneth Smith (16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 assists, 3 deflections, block) had 10 of the Lions’ first 18 points. Other top contributors were Chris O’Reilly (9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), David Reed (5 points, 4 assists, 3 steals), Jarryd Heath (5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists),  Matt Aikens (4 points) and Matt Robare (3 points, 3 assists).

LT zipped to a 14-2 lead late in the first quarter but the Panthers scored the last bucket of the period and the first seven points of the second quarter to close to 14-11.

The Lions answered with a seven-point run of their own and were in charge 27-13 at the half. LT led by at least 14 points the rest of the way and by as much as 24 points at 45-21 with 6:54 to play.

“(Proviso West has) good athletes, good players. Probably the most important thing we did in the fourth quarter was handle the pressure and score, not break the pressure and then bring it out,” Sloan said.

LT shot 48 percent from the field (25 for 52) with three treys and 22 assists and benefitted from Proviso West making just 6 of 19 free throws with an 0-for-10 first half.

The Lions committed 21 turnovers in the mostly up-tempo style but also converted several easy baskets by eluding pressure with poise and crisp passing. A 6-foot-4 starting center, Antalek had nine points in the fourth quarter with four layins.

“(Against Hinsdale Central) we didn’t do a good job of catching and looking at the basket and looking to score late in the game against pressure and tonight we did,” Sloan said.

“After somebody would break pressure, Chris Antalek did a great job of just cutting right to the basket when his guy left him. He got three or four layups in the fourth quarter just because he was smart enough to run to the basket and the kids (with the ball) were poised and unselfish.”

LT’s balanced scoring contributed to the victory at Hinsdale Central (10-6, 3-3).

While Smith had just nine points under close scrutiny from the Red Devils' defense, Robare (14 points with 3 treys, 5 assists, 4 deflections), O’Reilly (14 points with 2 treys, 6 assists, 3 rebounds), Antalek (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Heath (11 points with 2 treys, 5 rebounds) all scored in double figures.

Reed also had six assists with three points, and Smith added four rebounds, four assists and three deflections. The Lions shot 47 percent from the field (23 for 49) with a strong 8-for-18 (44 percent) from three-point range.

“If they’re going to focus on one guy, we have other guys open that can put it in the bucket,” Sloan said. “Hinsdale was going to try and take away Kenny. He had just scored 28 (points in LT’s 65-53 victory over Oak Park Jan. 13). Fortunately, we have other guys that stepped forward and started putting the ball in the bucket.”

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