By Drake Skleba
For the Bugle
With 1:55 remaining in the annual girls’ “Battle for Joliet” varsity basketball game on Thursday, Joliet West senior Adriona Lindsay had just converted one of her two free throws to pull the Tigers to within 44-41 of Joliet Central.
Showing the team basketball concept that Joliet Central head coach Laura Brumfiel preaches, Steelwomen senior Shawton Brown made a perfect pass to fellow senior Annette Hymon (four points), who’s lay-up put the Steelwomen up 46-41 with 1:30 left in the contest.
Led by Brown (10 points, nine rebounds, four steals) and sophomore Jalysa Stokes (19 points, five rebounds, two steals), the Steelwomen of Joliet Central (4-3, 1-1) went on to win 51-44. The Steelewomen’s leading scorer, 5-foot-1 senior Armoni Strickland, was held to just 10 points but handed out four assists.
“We really preach sharing the ball and play as a team,” Brumfiel said. “Jalysa (Stokes) and Shawton (Brown), did that for us tonight.”
Joliet West (3-4, 0-2), suffered its second consecutive Southwest Prairie Conference defeat for head coach John Placher. The Tigers were led by their freshman, Grace Walsh, who scored 17 points and hauled down five rebounds. The Tigers’ Jazz Evans scored a dozen points, had three steals and hauled down three rebounds for the Tigers.
“We played poorly and turned the ball over too much, in the first half,” Walsh said. We played hard tonight but fell a little short. Everynight, we get that same great effort, from Jazz (Evans).
Led by Stokes’ dozen first-half points, 10 in the first quarter, Central led 32-23, at the half.
“It’s nice to be the Steelwomen, because we know all of them,” Stokes said. “We really didn’t care who we played, we had to get an SPC win.”
“We all played very hard to get this much-needed win,” Brown said. “To us Joliet West is just another game.”
The less said about the third quarter, the better, as the Tigers and the Steelwomen combined for just 10 points between them. The Tigers won the third quarter 7-3, to pull within 35-30 at the end of three quarters.
Up next for the Steelwomen is a Southwest Prairie Conference battle at Romeoville on December 7.
The Tigers will host Plainfield North on Thursday December 8
“Another tough SPC loss,” Joliet West head coach John Placher said. “We must stop making the mistakes that are beating us. gRACE
THURSDAY BOYS DAILY ROUNDUP
Unbeaten Trojans roll past Panthers in WSC Silver opener!
Downers Grove North (5-0, 1-0) opened up a 23-12 first quarter lead and never looked back, crushing Proviso West 81-56 in the West Suburban Silver opener for both schools.
Senior Trey Boston led the Trojans with 25 points. Samaj Henderson chipped in with 13, while Colin Reed added nine points. Three-point specialist senior Connor Illyavi, buried three long-range bombs for nine points.
Redwings remain unbeaten with big road win at St. Charles East!
Benet Academy (5-0) traveled to Kane County on Thursday night for a non-conference showdown with St. Charles East (3-2). The Fighting Saints had just won their 60th Annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday, defeating previously unbeaten Willowbrook
Led by the Redwings’ “Twin Towers” of 6-foot-7 Declan Kendrick Tchoua (27 points) and 6-foot-9,, Colin Crothers (23 points), Benet Academy rolled to the 77-60 win.
Hawks fall to Trevians in CSL South opener
In a defensive battle in their Central Suburban South opener, Maine South (2-2, 0-1, fell 39-37 to New Trier (4-1, 1-0).
The Trevians led 12-10 after one quarter and 23-17 at the halftime break.
The Hawks turned up the defense and held the Trevians to just four third quarter points to tie the game at 27.
The Hawks were led by senior Fillip Bulatovic who scored 18 points and added six rebounds. Senior Essam Hamwi chipped in with 13 points and senior John Gardnier,also hauled down six rebounds for the Hawks.