York, Neuqua Valley win at Hinsdale South

York 81, Wheaton North 63

A cardinal rule of first-year York coach Frank Kaminsky's run-and-gun system?

"If you're open, put it up," he said.

Kaminsky's Dukes weren't gun-shy Monday night at the Hinsdale South Tournament, knocking down 10 3-pointers in an 81-63 win over Wheaton North.

Evan Semmelhack made five of the 3-pointers en route to a game-high 24 points. Courtney Owens hit three 3-pointers and scored 20 points to go with 12 rebounds.

"That's what we played for the last four years at the University of St. Francis. We encourage the kids to shoot," he said. "I tell the kids if you're open and you don't shoot it, you come out of the game. They all got the green light to shoot if they're open."

York (2-1) led 37-33 at the half, but trailed 41-37 a minute into the third quarter after a basket by Wheaton North's Fantasia Vine.

From there, though, the Dukes blitzed the Falcons with a 22-1 run. York made three 3-pointers during that stretch, Semmelhack hitting the third. She added a conventional three-point play for good measure and scored 17 points total in the second half.

"When I'm in a zone," Semmelhack said, "I just knock 'em down. We practice shooting a lot in practice. Coach always tells me to shoot the ball when I'm open.

"Coach told us in the second half we could pull ahead, we just had to start knocking down shots. We did, we played good defense and before we knew it we were up by 20 points."

Lauren Hoffman scored 14 points and Vine 12 for Wheaton North (1-2).

Neuqua Valley 57, Hinsdale 51

Later on, Neuqua Valley beat Hinsdale 57-51 behind 16 points from Morgan Williams, 14 from freshman backcourt mate Becky Williford and 10 points and 7 rebounds from McKenzie Hughes.

Williams scored 8 of her points in the second quarter, her third 3-pointer of the first half pushing the Wildcats out to a 30-16 lead.

Hinsdale South (1-3) came all the way back to within 34-33 with 4:08 left on a basket by Sam Schimmel. But Neuqua Valley (3-1) didn't fold, scoring the next six points on a pair of Hughes free throws, a Williford baseline jumper and a Williford score in transition.

"We talked at halftime that it was a different pace of the game and we had to get used to it," Williams said. "Some teams are fast and some teams are slow. It's a matter of adjusting."

Kelly Payne scored 14 points and Schimmel 12 for Hinsdale South. Promising 6-foot freshman Uzo Okoro added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Panthers.

"This tournament's all about learning," first-year Hinsdale South coach Steve Cochran said. "Would I love to be winning? Sure I wouuld. But the girls are learning to adjust on the fly."

In the night's first game, Hinsdale Central rolled over Plainfield Central 57-20. Madison Whitley led the Red Devils (3-0) with 17 points.