Girls basketball: Lincoln-Way East bounces back to beat Lockport

FRANKFORT – After winning 14 of its first 17 games, the Lincoln-Way East girls basketball team had dropped two in a row.

To make matters more concerning for the Griffins, both were SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue Division games.

Lincoln-Way East was looking to get back on track Thursday evening, and it did just that with a 53-32 victory over Lockport in SWSC Blue action in Frankfort.

Lana Kerley and Hayven Smith scored 12 points apiece to lead a balanced attack, and Smith also had 15 rebounds. Seven of East’s eight players scored, with four of them having seven or more points.

“This helps to get our energy back,” guard Lilly Dockemeyer said. “We needed this one.”

The Griffins (15-5, 1-2), who have no seniors and seven juniors, won with balanced scoring that included 10 points from Dockemeyer, seven points from sophomore forward Alaina Vargas and good defense.

“Everyone on this team can score,” said Kerley, who had six rebounds. “At halftime, I saw that we had really balanced scoring and we were passing the ball well. I knew if we focused and played our game, we could get a win. We have three games down in the conference and more tough teams to play. We want to keep this going.”

Kerley had 22 points Tuesday, including 17 in the first half to keep Lincoln-Way East in the game before falling 65-48 to league-leading and state-ranked Bolingbrook in Frankfort.

Bolingbrook (16-1, 2-0) defeated Lincoln-Way West 81-47 in an SWSC crossover Thursday.

“I just hate losing,” Kerley said of her performance against Bolingbrook. “But we competed well, and they are a really good team.”

East showed that it can be a really good team, too, with a big burst in the first half against the Porters.

Lockport (13-11, 0-2), which had dropped its SWSC Blue opener 56-39 on Tuesday to visiting Sandburg, led 7-5 just over three minutes into the game. But back-to-back 3-pointers by guards Maddie Yacobozzi and Makayla Kelly (5 points) sparked a 14-0 run over the next four minutes.

It was 19-9 after the first quarter, and 28-9 after Smith scored a basket on an offensive rebound with 2:16 left in the first half. The Porters closed within 30-16 at halftime and 32-21 early in the third quarter when senior guard Pat Tamasauskas hit the second of her three 3-pointers.

But the Griffins answered that with a 12-3 burst that included five straight points by Dockemeyer, to take a 44-24 lead. They led 46-26 after three.

“I was open and just took it,” Dockemeyer said. “I just think we work well as a team. We find the open person, and we just have great team chemistry. Everyone gets along.”

For Lockport, which has lost three in a row and four of its past five, the story was similar. It was the fifth time in their past six games that the Porters scored less than 40 points. Tamasauskas led the way with a game-high 13 points, sophomore forward Alaina Peetz had seven points, and freshman center Bridget Ferriter chipped in with four points and six rebounds for Lockport.

“We can’t buy a basket, the rims have locked up on Lockport,” Porters coach Darien Jacobs said. “We held one of the top shooters in the area [Kerley] to 12 points, but the rest of their team stepped up. They are a well-coached, talented team that plays to their advantages.”

The Griffins, who lost 55-52 at Sandburg in the SWSC Blue opener last week, want to play to those strengths.

“We had several girls shoot well, including Lilly Dockemeyer, " East coach Jim Nair said. “Peyton Knecht [4 points] and Alaina Vargas gave us a spark off the bench. It’s always tough to get conference wins in our division.”