Neuqua Valley can't stop Kokenis, Hinsdale C.
As its main focus of attention, the Neuqua Valley girls basketball team did a terrific job against Hinsdale Central's Toni Kokenis in the first quarter of Thursday night's Class 4A Neuqua Valley regional championship game, holding the standout junior guard scoreless as she missed all five of her shots.
That defensive effort kept the eighth-seeded Wildcats within 7-6 of the No. 2 Red Devils as the final seconds of the quarter ticked away.
But the thing with focusing so much attention on one player is that it presents opportunities to her teammates. In this case it was Hinsdale Central sophomore Maggie Brennan who rose to the occasion, swishing a 3-pointer at the buzzer and then opening the second period with another 3 to spark a 14-0 run as the Red Devils opened a 21-6 lead before cruising to a 43-31 victory.
"We just had good teamwork with passing the ball," said Brennan of her buzzer-beating shot. "Someone stepped up to guard Katie (Delaney), and she passed to over to me and I hit the shot."
Having players step up is something that Hinsdale Central coach Morgan Kasperek has been hoping to see from her team as more and more attention has been paid to Kokenis.
"I think our team's been doing a real good job playing team basketball," Kasperek said. "They weren't even guarding Maggie and she stepped up and hit a big shot. Teams are realizing that you can't just stop Toni, but the scary thing is that you still have to stop her."
Indeed, even though Kokenis was scoreless in the first quarter, she still finished with a game-high 19 points and added 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Many of those assists found Adabelle Ekechukwu alone inside, as she posted 10 points, while also grabbing 8 rebounds.
Neuqua Valley (13-16) actually got off to a good start, jumping to a 4-0 lead and hanging within a point before Brennan's heroics, but the Wildcats were undone by some shoddy shooting, especially on the occasions when they got the ball in the paint.
"What'd we have, 12 missed layups?" Wildcats coach Mike Williams wondered. "We had a great game plan, did a good job shutting them down at times. You're not gonna stop Toni, but you're gonna have to hit shots. If some of them fall, we're maybe talking a different game."
Missed opportunities are something you can't afford against the Red Devils (29-2), who stretched their lead to as much as 34-14 courtesy of a 9-0 run in the third quarter, with Kokenis scoring 7 of the points. The Wildcats got 6 points apiece from Morgan Williams, Erica Jordan and Kim Puk.
The win moves Hinsdale Central to Monday's Waubonsie Valley sectional semifinal, where it will face the winner of tonight's Oswego East regional title game between No. 3 Waubonsie Valley and No. 11 Downers Grove North.