TP_021419

38 | February 14, 2019 | The tinley junction sports
tinleyjunction.com
It was an early morning shake-up call
Titans earn first
conference crown
in 27 years after
Lemont victory
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
Sometimes you have to
get up early to make history.
Players on Tinley Park’s
girls basketball team got up
early to get to school to get
on the bus to head to Lemont
High School for a 9 a.m.
game against the Indians.
They also got up early in
the game. Kayla Serafini
scored the Titans’ first seven
points to help her team get
off to a 16-5 lead after the
first quarter. The Titans never
let up and pulled off a 52-
32 victory on Saturday, Feb.
9 in a South Suburban Conference
Blue contest to win a
share of the conference title
with Oak Forest. Both finished
with 10-3 records.
It was the first time in the
14-year history of the SSC
that the Titans won a title
and the first time since 1992
that they won a conference
crown, back when they
shared a title with Bremen
in the South Inter Conference
Association Central.
Coach Ryan Honan was 5
at the time. The players had
not been born.
“I’ve never experienced
an accomplishment like this
in basketball,” Serafini said.
“Being a senior and doing
this is amazing.”
In recent years, it’s been
hard enough picking up a
win as the Titans averaged
four victories a season the
past four years. Now, they
won some hardware.
“We talked in the summer
and I was very confident we
were going to have a good
year,” Honan said. “The
validation of winning a
It was a contrast in atmospheres as Tinley Park’s Brooke Davis walks off the court near the Oak Forest student section after a loss on Thursday, Feb. 7
(left photo) and she dribbles in a near-empty gym in the fourth quarter of a win in Lemont two days later as the Titans won their first conference title since
1992. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
conference title is good for
them.’’
The 9 a.m. start was the
finish of a wild week for
the Titans, who finished the
regular season with a 15-11
mark.
This Lemont game was
supposed to take place on
Feb. 5 but it was postponed
because of the forecasted
ice storm, which didn’t occur.
On Thursday, Feb. 7, the
Titans went into the unfriendly
confines of Oak
Forest on the Bengals’ senior
night and trailed 21-10
at halftime, cut the deficit
to two in the second half
but fell 39-29, putting huge
significance on the Lemont
game.
Hundreds of fans, mostly
from Oak Forest, rocked the
gym on Thursday, which
was quite a contrast from
the Lemont game, where
less than 50 people were in
the stands for the National
Anthem, and that included
eight members of the Lemont
band.
But that didn’t stop the
Titans from dominating as
Serafini, who averages eight
points a game, scored 11 in
the first quarter.
The Titans rarely played
this early in the morning.
“It does feel weird and I
was scared because the last
early game we had [in a
holiday tournament at Hillcrest]
wasn’t the best,” she
said. “We were a bunch of
crabby girls that day. This
time we were excited. And
the coaches gave us breakfast.’’
After eating some bagels
and fruit in assistant coach
Maggie O’Connor’s office,
the Titans left Tinley Park at
7:45 a.m. and nearly three
hours later they were posing
for photos at Lemont as cochamps.
Emily Kleffman had 16
points and 13 rebounds,
Autumn Jones had nine
points and Brooke Davis
Tinley Park’s Kayla Serafini (left) scored 11 first-quarter points to help her team beat
Lemont to earn a share of the South Suburban Blue title.
had eight. Endya Robinson,
Theo Jones, Lauren Berry
and Jaedyn Wayne also contributed
for the Titans, who
have just eight on the varsity
roster.
The Titans were scheduled
to open play in the
Illinois High School Association
Class 2A Thornridge
Regional against the
hosts on Monday, Feb. 11
and hoped to advance to the
semifinals against Chicago
Noble/Butler on Wednesday,
Feb. 13. The championship
is at 7 p.m. on Friday,
Feb. 15.