Red Devils make it 5 vs. Waubonsie

By now it's fair to say Hinsdale Central has Waubonsie Valley's number.

That number is up to five.

For the fifth time in two seasons, the Red Devils defeated Waubonsie Valley in girls basketball. The final Tuesday night in Hinsdale featured the widest spread of the bunch: 43-23.

"I'm sick of losing to 'em," Waubonsie Valley senior guard Anna Gault said. "They're good competition. Maybe if we got some better teams to play during our season we would have been more ready, but it's a game that we just didn't play our best."

It didn't help the Warriors (17-2) that they played without all-area junior guard Jessica Morice, who is out for an undetermined amount of weeks with an injury to her right foot that includes tears in her Achilles' tendon.

Leading 8-7 in the first quarter, Hinsdale Central (18-1) took off on a long 22-2 run to build a 30-9 cushion in the third quarter.

The Red Devils held Waubonsie Valley to 2 points in the second quarter and 2 in the third.

A 10-0 run in the fourth quarter put the Red Devils up 28.

"I thought we played a really good game," Hinsdale Central sophomore guard Toni Kokenis said. "We played great defense and we executed on offense."

Kokenis finished with a game-high 14 points. She shot 5 of 6 from the field and 2 of 2 from the foul line.

Kokenis' two 3-pointers were Hinsdale Central's only field goals of its 19 that did not come in the paint. The Red Devils shot 61 percent for the game.

Waubonsie Valley received scoring from just three players with Brittany Upshaw's 9 points leading the way.

It was Hinsdale Central's second victory against a ranked team in as many days. The Red Devils won 43-41 at Marist on Monday.

"It was a tough two games in a row, but we did great both nights," Kokenis said. "We played well coming off a tough game yesterday."

"I was a little nervous about how we'd come out, but our seniors really do a good job of keeping everybody under control and Toni's leadership continues to get better and better," Hinsdale Central coach Steve Gross said.

"In the first half that was probably as well as we've executed offensively, and then defensively we've had some good games and this was another one."