Girls Basketball: Young coasts by Bartlett, into finals
Updated: March 2, 2012 9:08PM
NORMAL – What hangover?
Any thought that Young might exhibit a little hangover from its victory over Bolingbrook were quickly dispelled Friday as the Dolphins ran away from Bartlett and coasted to a 67-43 victory in a IHSA Class 4A semifinal at Redbird Arena.
Janee Thompson set an IHSA single-game assist record with 13 and scored 18 points to lead the Dolphins. Linnae Harper added 16 points and six rebounds and Alexis Lloyd scored 14 points and had seven rebounds as Young improved to 33-0.
Thompson, whose 34 points Monday were the difference in getting Young past Bolingbrook and into the semifinals, just shrugged when told of her record-breaking performance.
“I just took what the defense gave me,” she said.
But Young coach Corry Irvin was more effusive in her praise of her 5-foot-7 senior leader who is headed to Kentucky in the fall.
“We don’t expect anything less from her,” Irvin said. “She did a real good job, especially in the second half, looking for her shot and finding other people.”
Young opened the second half with a 14-4 run to extend a 30-18 halftime lead. Bartlett, which led 5-4 midway through the first quarter, was never able to answer.
“Their pressure slowed our offensive game down, and that’s not how we practice,” said Bartlett’s Haley Videckis, who had just 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting and was 0 for 2 from three-point range. “The looks I was getting were not very good looks.”
Kristin Conniff had 10 points and Katie Gutzwiller added eight points for Bartlett, which was outrebounded 50-28.
“We started out a little sluggish and weren’t finishing off our shots and taking care of the ball,” Irvin said. “But once we got our defense together, we started getting some easy baskets. A lot of people think we like to run, but we actually like to play defense.
“We thought if we pounded them on the glass, we’d wear them down,” the Young coach added. “I thought they hadn’t played a team like us all season, but we’ve played a lot of teams that play like them.”
Freshman Tanita Allen tossed in eight points for Young and senior Tessa Haldes had six points and six rebounds.
“Our offense was pretty stagnant in the first half,” Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. “We missed some free throws and some layups, and it was pretty hard to recover. They’re as good as we thought, but we could have played better.”
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