advertisement

Downers Grove North takes key WSC Silver win from York

Downers Grove North's Jalyn Harris welcomed the challenge.

Playing against a taller York team in a rare early Friday afternoon non-tournament game, Harris understood that strong play in the post was a must.

Harris answered the challenge, scoring 8 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, collecting 5 steals and blocking 2 shots to lead the Trojans to a 36-30 win in West Suburban Silver action in Downers Grove.

Julia Kramper helped put the low-scoring game away with six fourth-quarter free throws to finish with a team-high 12 points. Ellie Gross, a junior captain, added seven points for the Trojans (12-6, 4-1).

"We just tried and come out hard defensively and get some stops," Harris said. "We are a small team, so besides me and a couple other people, we don't have much size. They were bigger than us, so we played hard because they were bigger than us."

The Dukes (13-6, 4-2) opened the game with energy, set to open the new year with a big road victory. Kathleen Levins drilled a 3-pointer to give the Dukes a 10-4, but the Trojans answered with a scoring binge that included back-to-back baskets by Harris for a 17-10 lead.

"We did a good job defensively and that helped us," Downers Grove North coach Stephan Bolt said. "We didn't give up anything really easy. We gave them a 10-spot in the first quarter but then played at a really high level defensively."

In the third quarter the Dukes fell victim to a series of turnovers that limited them to four shots in the eight-minute period. In all the Dukes committed 7 turnovers in the third.

"We missed a bunch of layups in the first half and we forced it offensively and missed wide-open girls," York coach Brandon Collings said. "We were out of control too much. We are getting better, but today was a step back. We started the (new) year with too many turnovers."

Kramper canned a 3 and Harris followed with a 17-foot jumper to pad the Trojans' lead to 25-13 with 4:30 left in the third. The Trojans did not record a field goal the rest of the game, as Sara Krissinger nearly brought the Dukes back into the game. The junior guard scored 9 of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans put the game away by hitting three free throws in the final 27.7 seconds.

"This is a big win in terms of conference schedule, especially because we had an ugly loss to Lyons," Gross said. "We just wanted to come together and not let the game get away from us."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.