Girls basketball: Downers Grove North rolls past Yorkville, keeps record season going with regional title

DOWNERS GROVE – Hope Sebek could only sit and watch from the bench with a torn ACL during the second half of Downers Grove North’s season last year.

Campbell Thulin? She wasn’t even in high school yet.

Sebek’s return, eight months after surgery, and Thulin’s arrival were instrumental parts of a record-breaking season in Downers Grove. And it kept going Feb. 15 in a big way.

Sebek and Thulin were two of three Trojans to score in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively, and were part of a defense that held Yorkville without a field goal for more than 14 minutes bridging the second and third quarters.

Third-seeded Downers Grove North, two days after setting a program win record, rolled to a 55-32 victory over sixth-seeded Yorkville in the Class 4A Downers Grove North Regional final.

Kaitlyn Parker scored a game-high 18 points for Downers Grove North (30-3), winners of 16 consecutive games.

“It feels awesome. We knew we weren’t done and we did everything possible to keep it going,” Sebek said. “We knew this wasn’t the end.”

Unfortunately for the Trojans, their season came to an end Tuesday in a 44-37 loss to Waubonsie Valley in an Oswego Sectional semifinal. Waubonsie Valley also had been the last team to beat the Trojans.

For a time, Sebek didn’t even know for sure if she’d be part of what turned out to be a historic season.

The 5-foot-7 senior guard, after months of grueling rehabilitation, was cleared a week before the season. On Feb. 15, she scored eight of her 15 points during the second quarter. Sebek’s 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half started a 17-2 Trojans run that blew the game open.

“This means the world,” said Sebek, who also grabbed six rebounds. “I never really thought I’d be here, playing again. I’m just kind of living the dream and keeping going. I supported the team through it all last year and it led me here. This is why I worked so hard in recovery. I knew something was coming and this was it.”

Thulin has established herself throughout her freshman season as a stellar two-way talent. She showcased those skills again Feb. 15.

Thulin defended Yorkville’s top perimeter player, junior guard Brooke Spychalski, and held her to seven points on 2-for-7 shooting.

And then the Trojans’ freshman guard got it going on the offensive end in the second half. Thulin scored 12 of her 14 points in the third quarter, hitting three of Downers Grove North’s nine second-half 3-pointers.

“She’s a special freshman, beyond her years in terms of ability to play and see the game and her IQ,” Downers Grove North coach Stephan Bolt said. “And she’s a competitor. She’s a relentless, fearless type kid.”

Madi Spychalski scored nine points and Lainey Gussman and Brooke Spychalski had seven each for Yorkville (22-10). The Foxes prefer to play at a faster pace but never got that opportunity against a Downers Grove North team that held its 25th opponent to fewer than 40 points.

Brooke Spychalski’s putback with 2:06 left in the first quarter had Yorkville within 10-6, but it was the Foxes’ last field goal until Madi Spychalski scored on a lob with 2:58 left in the third quarter. Yorkville’s 32 points were a season low.

“They’re just so fundamentally sound,” Yorkville coach Kim Wensits said of Downers Grove North. “If you beat your girl, before you even get to the paint, the next girl has stepped up to help. And they’re so good with their angles that you don’t have an easy kickout. We had to make some of those shots early in the first half and they didn’t fall our way. It takes the wind out of your sails.”

Downers Grove North played with the wind at its back, a sizzling 11 for 20 from 3-point range while limiting Yorkville to nine field goals.

“It’s amazing. This team is the best. I couldn’t ask for anything better, especially as a freshman,” said Thulin, who also had three steals and three rebounds. “They [Yorkville] are a good team in transition. We just had to get back. Defense is our core and we always stick to our principles.”

“It’s all our kids just buying into what we’re trying to accomplish,” Bolt said. “If we’re going to have a chance against elite teams, that’s what we have to do. They get to the right spots, they make you take a tough shot, it wears on you over the course of the game. Our kids are relentless.”

Even in defeat, Wensits could look back with pride on a season in which her Foxes won the program’s most games since 2016-17, her first season as head coach.

“It really was a great season,” Wensits said. “The kids did everything we asked and battled every game. They’ve been such a fun group to work with.”