York responds, drops Glenbard East
Glenbard East held York scoreless for more than nine minutes to start Wednesday afternoon's girls basketball game at the Riverside-Brookfield Holiday Classic.
It wasn't long enough for the Rams.
The Dukes quickly fought back to take a 44-36 victory, handing the Rams (7-4) their second consecutive loss.
"We were just outplayed today. York was just the better team," Rams coach Don Finnie said. "They played well, they rebounded well, shot great free throws, played great defense, were quicker to the ball. They were just a better ballclub today."
The Dukes (6-5) might have gone scoreless through the first quarter, but they allowed the Rams just 8 points before York sophomore Danielle Dennis converted at 6:53 of the second quarter. York scored the next 8 points also to lead 10-8 at halftime and Glenbard East never could catch up.
"Our girls have an uncanny way of weathering the storm and responding when necessary," York coach John Constable said after sweating out another close game. "I told them at halftime, the very first words out of my mouth were, 'Thank you for responding,' because I was starting to think that Christmas was already here, we were already in opening-present mode. But they responded."
Freshman forward Kathleen Levins sparked the Dukes' resurgence. She finished with a game-best 13 points and 7 rebounds, scoring 9 of the Dukes' first 13 points.
"She was an absolute beast," Constable said admiringly. "She was the most physical player on the floor for us and we needed that because of how physical all five of their players are. They are extremely physical. Kathleen seemed to be the only player that enjoyed that type of physical play, that thrived on it. And she does. That's who she is. She's got a high engine or a high activity level. It was nice to see her respond."
Constable had to respond also, changing his defense.
"My game plan literally went in the garbage two minutes into the game," said Constable, adding he planned to run a zone defense 90 percent of the game. "I thought we could run zone, which we very seldom run zone. ... I thought going to man-to-man gave us life, gave us energy, gave us box-out responsibilities, which we still struggled at at times, but that at least held us accountable. That was the difference in them extending our lead or us cutting into their lead."
Senior Kaylin Kenny and Dennis each added 10 points for the Dukes, who scored more than the Rams usually allow despite the long drought.
Brasia Solid's 10 points paced the Rams, who got 10 points off the bench from Brittanny Paganucci.
"That was really a big help," Finnie said of Paganucci, just getting back into the lineup following an injury. "Coming off the bench, that was good."
Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz