Girls Basketball: Ella Ormsby’s career-high 17 points power Lyons past Downers Grove North to stay unbeaten in WSC Silver

Lyons Township senior Ella Ormsby

DOWNERS GROVE – Lyons Township senior Ella Ormsby was in attack mode Jan. 14.

Even Downers Grove North’s vaunted defense couldn’t slow her down.

Ormsby tallied a career-high 17 points and added five rebounds and four steals as the visiting Lions knocked off Downers North 39-28 in a key West Suburban Conference Silver Division game. Lyons (18-4, 8-0) is one game ahead of York and three ahead of Downers North (14-7, 5-3) with four games left.

“She played a heckuva game today,” Lyons coach Meghan Hutchens said. “She actually sliced her way through the paint a few times.

“I was very impressed with her ability to get to the basket today and know when her opportunity presented itself.”

Ormsby scored on three drives in the first half, including one that tied the game at 12 and began a 10-0 run for the Lions. She also sank a 3-pointer during that streak, which she capped by getting a defensive rebound and finding senior Ally Cesarini for a transition layup at the 2:08 mark of the second quarter for a 20-12 lead.

“Hutch has been telling me constantly to attack the basket and I just kind of felt it,” Ormsby said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to attack,’ and once I attacked the first time and it went in, I just kept it going. It opened things up and it worked out for the team.”

Indeed, Ormsby’s inspired play thwarted Downers North’s physicality and focus on shutting down Cesarini. That strategy emerged on the game’s opening possession, when Cesarini was knocked hard to the floor on a drive.

Cesarini shook off the knock and sank both free throws, but found it tough to get any good looks the rest of the way. The Lewis recruit, who had seven points, seven rebounds and two steals, was thankful for Ormsby’s contributions.

“Ella’s really been stepping up lately,” Cesarini said. “Personally, I feel that as it gets later into the season, I’ve had better defenders on me, so it’s definitely been harder for me to score the ball. I love seeing Ella take it to the basket. She went to the hoop really well today and she also shot the ball really well, too.”

Ormsby shot 6-of-10 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers, and was 3-for-4 from the line. The free throws all came in the final 79 seconds after Maggie Fleming’s two free throws pulled the Trojans to within 33-28.

Ormsby later added her final layup with 31 seconds left. She said there were two keys to how the Lions overcame Downers North’s resistance.

“I think it was the least amount of turnovers as possible and pushing in transition so we can get quick baskets,” Ormsby said. “We needed to get some momentum going because we’re on defense for a pretty long time. We want to try to build a lead so we don’t have to worry so much on offense.”

Downers North’s meticulous offense means points are at a premium, making each possession more precious. But the Lions were ready.

“It was very physical,” Cesarini said. “We kind of expected this. We know they take their time on offense, so we knew we were going to be on defense for longer periods of time, which we’re not used to. So we really prepared well for it.”

The Trojans weren’t prepared to lose junior guard Hope Sebek, who suffered a torn ACL in a loss to York on Jan. 10. Senior Violet Mitchell replaced her in the starting lineup and had 10 points and six rebounds Jan. 14. Junior forward Kaitlyn Parker also had 10 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals, but scored only two points after Hutchens switched Cesarini onto her in the second half.

“It was a tough blow to the kids, not just losing [Sebek] but playing the two toughest teams in our conference back-to-back,” Downers North coach Stephan Bolt said. “But I give our kids a ton of credit. Defensively, we absolutely battled. We did enough defensively to give ourselves a chance. It was just some bad stretches of turnovers and missing some shots.”

The Lions turned it over only 10 times, including twice in the fourth quarter. The sure-handed Ormsby and Cesarini made sure of that.

“It’s been great,” said Ormsby, who will not play in college. “We’ve played together for three years and this is the final year. But we play travel together as well, so we have really good chemistry together. That’s why it works for the both of us.”