Glenbard W. can't keep Kokenis from record
Glenbard West couldn't do much to stop Toni Kokenis and Hinsdale Central during Saturday's girls basketball game, so the Hilltoppers stopped to show their respect for Kokenis afterward.
The Stanford-bound senior broke the all-time Hinsdale Central scoring record with a running 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer, and the Red Devils blew out the struggling Hilltoppers 57-36 in Hinsdale.
"She deserves all the accolades she gets," Glenbard West coach Mike Hofland said of the 2008-09 Daily Herald All-Area Captain. "She's been a great (player). It's been fun to compete against her and a challenge to beat her running a team."
Kokenis scored 18 points in the game to give her 1,570, 4 more than former coach Morgan Kasperek. Kokenis also dished 8 assists, including a couple of no-look passes, had 4 rebounds, 3 steals and a blocked shot.
"I totally forgot about it, actually," Kokenis said of the record after Kasperek presented her the game ball in a postgame ceremony. "It's just going out every game and winning. I've had great teammates my four years who have made this possible and great coaches."
The Red Devils (7-2, 3-0 West Suburban Silver) were in control from the start, scoring the game's first 10 points and taking a 15-2 lead after one quarter.
"It was bad, and against a team like Hinsdale you've got to have some confidence going," Hofland said. "We had a brutal start to the game. ... There was a string there in the second quarter where we had a little bit of a run, but Hinsdale's too good. Toni's too good."
"We've been starting off pretty slow in some of our games this season, so we wanted to come out strong," Kokenis added.
Glenbard West (8-3, 2-2), which played at Bloomington on Friday night and drove straight to Hinsdale on Saturday, found its legs in the second quarter, staying within striking distance. But the Hilltoppers couldn't keep that momentum going into the second half. Kokenis' record-breaking shot gave the Red Devils a 51-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
"We're just not doing it," Hofland said, struggling to figure out why his team has lost three of its last four games after opening the season with seven straight wins. "It's not something they're doing to us, it's us hurting ourselves. Until we get over that hump we're not going to become one of the top teams around. We're still going to be just an average team in the area.
"So far in our losses it's been on us. Hinsdale's a great team, but for us to lose by this many to them? We're not that bad."
Adabelle Ekechukwu added 16 points and 9 rebounds for the Red Devils. Nicole Hazemi led the Hilltoppers with 10 points in the paint against Hinsdale Central's 2-3 zone. Injured Hilltoppers post player Abby Hastings missed her fourth straight game.