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The Homer Horizon 120816
The Homer Horizon 120816
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homerhorizon.com SPORTS<br />
the Homer Horizon | December 8, 2016 | 45<br />
Girls Basketball<br />
Porters stifle Tigers in nonconference clash<br />
Randy Whalen<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
After opening the season<br />
with five games in a week<br />
span — the last four of them<br />
victories in winning the<br />
Romeoville Thanksgiving<br />
Tournament — the Lockport<br />
Township girls basketball<br />
had a 10-day gap before playing<br />
again.<br />
But the Porters hardly<br />
showed any rust as they faced<br />
off in an early season showdown<br />
with a former conference<br />
foe.<br />
Taylor Hopkins led the<br />
way with a game-high 12<br />
points as eight Porters scored<br />
in a 41-26 victory against Joliet<br />
West in a nonconference<br />
matchup Thursday, Dec. 1, at<br />
Lockport’s Central Campus.<br />
It was an early season<br />
showdown between two<br />
teams that were longtime<br />
opponents in the SouthWest<br />
Suburban Conference. The<br />
Tigers, however, moved to<br />
the Southwest Prairie Conference<br />
this season.<br />
Lockport (5-1) won its<br />
fifth straight. The Tigers’<br />
(4-2) only other loss was a<br />
64-61 setback to undefeated<br />
Lincoln-Way West Nov. 22 in<br />
the title game of the Lincoln-<br />
Way Central Thanksgiving<br />
Tournament.<br />
“We could not be more<br />
proud of the way we moved<br />
the ball,” Lockport coach<br />
Dan Kelly said. “Joliet West<br />
is a good team, and I know<br />
[Tigers coach] John [Placher]<br />
would probably have his<br />
team play a zone. We really<br />
worked on the ball movement,<br />
spacing and timing<br />
against the zone in practice.<br />
“This is a rivalry game,<br />
and it’s good for the area.”<br />
There were two big bursts<br />
that enabled the Porters to<br />
pull away. The largest one<br />
was a key second-half spurt.<br />
Joliet West had scored the<br />
Treasure Thompson (right) shoots over Gloria Choate<br />
during the game.<br />
first four points of the third<br />
quarter and closed within<br />
22-18 on a driving layup by<br />
freshman guard Jazzpher Evans<br />
(team-high 8 points, 4 rebounds)<br />
with 6:10 to play in<br />
the third quarter.<br />
At that point, a Tigers<br />
comeback looked like a possibility,<br />
but then they went<br />
scoreless for the next 10 minutes.<br />
That allowed Lockport<br />
to go on a 17-0 blitz to lead<br />
39-18 with 6:10 left in the<br />
game.<br />
Hopkins, a junior guard<br />
who added four rebounds in<br />
the game, had six points in<br />
the run. The Porters forced<br />
eight turnovers in the third<br />
quarter and led 36-18 after<br />
three. Joliet West had 22<br />
turnovers in the game.<br />
“We took a deep breath,<br />
slowed everything down and<br />
adjusted,” Hopkins said of<br />
how the Porters regrouped.<br />
“We have been practicing really<br />
well and hard. We were<br />
unselfish and passed the ball.<br />
We knew [West] was a good<br />
team. I thought we rebounded<br />
well [Lockport had a 29-<br />
27 rebounding edge], and<br />
this was a total team victory<br />
for us.”<br />
Joliet West finally scored<br />
again with 3:50 to play in<br />
the game on a jumper by senior<br />
forward Gloria Choate<br />
(4 points, team-high 9 rebounds)<br />
and ended the game<br />
on an 8-2 burst to tighten the<br />
final score.<br />
Senior forward Laurel<br />
Kucharski (7 points, 4 rebounds),<br />
senior guard Destiny<br />
Davis (5 points) and<br />
freshman center Treasure<br />
Thompson (5 points, gamehigh<br />
10 rebounds) also contributed<br />
for the Porters.<br />
The game started out as<br />
advertised with ties at 2-2<br />
and 4-4. Then, sophomore<br />
guard Sarah Gersch (6<br />
points) gave the Tigers their<br />
one and only lead at 6-5 on<br />
a layup with 3:17 left in the<br />
first quarter.<br />
Then, Hopkins had four<br />
points and Kucharki scored<br />
six, including the final points<br />
in a 15-0 stretch that gave<br />
Lockport a 20-6 lead with exactly<br />
four minutes left in the<br />
first half.<br />
But Joliet West scored the<br />
final six points of the half,<br />
including four in the final 42<br />
seconds, to close within 22-<br />
14 at intermission.<br />
“I told the girls we really<br />
had to be physical because<br />
West is that type of team,”<br />
Kelly said. “We rebounded<br />
well and played that physical<br />
game with them. But West<br />
Lockport’s Laurel Kucharski grabs a pass in the paint Thursday, Dec. 1, during the<br />
Porters’ win over Joliet West at Lockport’s Central Campus.<br />
Photos by Mark Korosa/22nd Century Media<br />
Taylor Hopkins (left) drives past Gloria Choate on her way to the basket.<br />
is good, and we knew they<br />
wouldn’t quit.”<br />
The Porters will not quit<br />
either, as they are aiming<br />
for their first winning season<br />
since going 16-11 in the<br />
2010-2011 campaign.<br />
“The girls really worked<br />
on playing with an unselfish<br />
style,” Kelly said. “We<br />
have enough talent and skill<br />
on this team that if someone<br />
takes our high-low game<br />
away, we can still beat them<br />
using the other phases, like<br />
shooting from outside.”<br />
Hopkins agreed.<br />
“I feel like we can really go<br />
far,” she said. “We have really<br />
good pieces that fit together<br />
well. Everyone wants the<br />
same thing, to play hard, play<br />
smart and most of the time,<br />
that is going to win games.”
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