West Chicago escapes with win

Instead of letting her team enjoy its 15-point halftime lead Wednesday night, West Chicago coach Kim Wallner issued a warning.

"I told them at halftime that I'd watched York a few times and I knew that they were a good team and that they would make a run at us," Wallner said. "I didn't know it would get to be 2 points, but I knew they'd make a run and I was trying to tell my kids there's been some games this year when once some things started not going our way we tend to fold a bit and we're not able to rise up and get to another level."

West Chicago found that other level just in time to defeat York 62-53 in the Class 4A West Chicago regional semifinals. The Wildcats will host Proviso West, a 57-41 victor against Addison Trail, in Friday's championship game.

The Wildcats (17-10) got off to a great start, using a 22-0 run to go up 24-6 in the second quarter.

"Our team came out really, really strong, and I'm definitely proud of them," Wildcats senior Jessica Baids said. "We came out ready to go, and we've had a little trouble with that in past games, and I think we really stepped up."

"The bottom line was in this game that we did not handle their pressure very well in the first half," added York coach Jason Reinecke. "They got out to a huge lead and a lot of that was we're playing without our point guard right now, (injured) three-year varsity player Meryl Cripe. We haven't played many games without her and that's difficult."

The lead reached 19 points with 2:10 left in the third period when sophomore guard Claire Monroe converted a three-point play, but from there York went on a run of its own. A Mary Colon basket with 2:51 left cut the West Chicago lead to 50-48.

Colon played a big part in the Dukes' resurgence, scoring 23 of her 26 points in the second half after getting into foul trouble early.

"She's a big-time player," Reinecke said of the junior forward, "and she really showed up in the second half, really showed up in the fourth quarter. But that's Mary."

West Chicago made 9 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes - 16 of 18 in the game - to avert defeat.

"Our free throws were big, and just running our offenses were big," Baids said.

Monroe led the Wildcats with 18 points, and Mary Connolly added 16.

York finished the season 11-17.