York Girls Outlast Struggling Lions

Neither the Lady Dukes nor the Lady Lions were prepared to give an inch of basketball court on Friday, with both teams playing—and playing against—a persistent full-court press, which saw a frenetic series of turnovers, fouls and errors for both squads.

In a game that veered wildly between a slugfest and a defensive battle, it was York who prevailed, 41-38, handing Lyons Township their latest in a series of extremely close losses.

The Dukes (4-3) pulled out to an early lead, with their aggressive defense snaring multiple takeaways, and led 18-8 midway through the second quarter. But that aggression translated into multiple foul-line chances for the Lions (2-6), who went on an 11-2 run to close the gap to 20-19 by the half, then took a brief 21-20 lead early in the third.

But York raged back, tearing up the court with 18 points in the third quarter and settling into a defensive crouch at the beginning of the fourth, leading 38-29. Despite not scoring a single field goal in the entire fourth quarter, and only three free-throws after a seven-minute drought, York was able to hold off a last-second Lyons charge to take the win.

"I could probably go on for a long time about the things that we needed to do better tonight," said York coach Jason Reinecke. "But I think the bottom line moving forward is, these girls battled tonight and we are leaving with a conference victory."

The Dukes' scoring was led by senior forward Mary Colon, who put up 14 points, including three 3-pointers, two in the first quarter. Junior guard Tawny Tucci added seven points on two field goals and three free throws, and senior forward Nicole Brown had six, with a 3-pointer and three free throws. Junior forward Alex Harrell also had 10 rebounds.

For the Lions, senior guard Lindsay Esposito and junior guard Maggie Orlowski had nine points apiece; junior guard Colleen Connors and senior forward Danielle Beck each had seven (five free throws and a field goal each).

"We're within reach in every single game we're playing, and we fight hard and play hard, but it's just a matter of finishing at critical times," said Lyons coach Katie Meyers. "Our team made literally [only] a third of the layups that we had—we could have easily had a win."

Missing layups and short shots was a huge issue for both teams. LTHS was 10-for-44 from 2-point range; York went 9-for-35, including one sequence of three missed layups in a row. The Dukes also were plagued by poor (50 percent, 11-for-22) free-throw shooting, while the Lions had a 3-point swish disqualified for stepping out of bounds and lost a free throw point on a lane violation.

LTHS did much better at the free-throw line, shooting 15-for-23 to fuel much of their offense. But the Lions also lost starter Connors for much of the fourth quarter comeback attempt, after the guard suffered a minor facial injury—while getting called for a foul.

"It's heartbreaking," said Meyers of her team's plight, having now suffered four out of six losses by three points or less. "It's heartbreaking for me, it's heartbreaking for the girls and the coaching staff. They know that they're in reach."

The win wasn't pretty for York, either—but it goes down as a win.

"We're not firing on all cylinders right now," said Reinecke. "We've got to make sure that we're playing as a team and setting each other up to score.

The Dukes visit Hinsdale Central at 4:30 Saturday.