Girls Basketball: Hinsdale South tops rival Hinsdale Central

Updated: November 18, 2011 10:26PM

Winning ugly doesn’t matter as long as you’re winning. It’s even sweeter winning against a rival.

Hinsdale South outscored Hinsdale Central to win the battle for bragging rights within District 86 Friday night in Darien.

Senior Uzo Okoro scored 18 points and had nine rebounds as the Hornets won 48-36 in the opening round of the Hinsdale South Tip-off tournament.

“It’s nice to beat Central, our rival,” Okoro said.

To pull out the win, South (2-0) held Central (1-1) without a basket for six and a half minutes in the third quarter and then limited the Devils to 1-of-15 shooting in the fourth quarter. Central, which won only three games last season, led 22-18 at halftime.

“This was definitely motivating,” Okoro said. “This gives us a lot of confidence. Central is not the same team as last year. That’s obvious.”

Junior center Lily Sarros scored a game-high 22 points and added 10 rebounds to lead Central, but Sarros could have used more support. She scored 11 of Central’s 14 points in the second half. She scored all of her team’s four second-half baskets as the rest of the Devils struggled from the floor.

Freshman Gabrielle Rush, who scored 29 points in her varsity debut Nov. 15 against Naperville Central, was held to nine points in her second career game. She missed all three of her shot attempts in the second half and did not score. She also missed her last six shot attempts to end the first half.

“Our goal was to hold her down to 13 points. She got her nine. That was definitely a focus for us in the game,” Okoro said.

South led 32-25 in the third quarter before Sarros scored the Devils’ first basket in the second half on a layup with 1:24 remaining. Guard Toni Romiti gave the Hornets a 37-31 lead to end the third quarter with a three-pointer before the buzzer.

“We got tight. That’s one thing we’re not there yet offensively. I think we did a good job defensively,” Central coach Tom McKenna said. “Mentally, we were tight. We lost confidence in our shots. I think we also took a lot of bad shots.”

Central actually took control in the first half by scoring eight consecutive points to open the second quarter. Sarros’ three-point play gave the Devils an 18-12 lead. Both teams shot poorly from the floor and combined to shoot 7 of 30 in the second quarter.

Andrea McNally (six rebounds) scored seven of her 13 points in first half for the Hornets. Natalie Tomerlin scored all six of her points in the second half.

The teams also combined to shoot 3 of 22 three-pointers. NcNally and Romiti had one each and Rush had Central’s only three.

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