By Mike Clark
The latest installment in the city’s top girls basketball rivalry had an odd start and a happy ending for Kenwood.
Twelve days after losing to Young for the fourth straight year in the Public League final, the Broncos ended the Dolphins’ season for the third straight year.
Danielle Brooks scored 20 points, London Walker-George added 19 and Ariella Henigan finished with 15 as Kenwood pulled away late for a 71-55 win in the Class 4A Lyons Sectional final on Feb. 27.
“It means a lot,” Brooks said. “They won city, so we had to get back at them, get our revenge.”
Before that happened, there was an unusual pregame twist.
Both teams arrived wearing home white uniforms. Tourney officials said Young was the home team by virtue of being the top-bracket representative after upsetting the No. 1-seeded sectional hosts. So Kenwood was assessed a technical foul for the uniform violation, Lyons personnel scrounged up some red practice tops for the Broncos to wear over their jerseys and Young’s Gaby Domercant hit two free throws before the opening tip.
After the drama, Young (25-9) didn’t trail for most of the first half. But Kenwood finished the second quarter on a 12-1 run to lead 31-26 at halftime, and the Broncos held the edge the rest of the way.
Walker-George said the strange start didn’t distract the Broncos from the task at hand.
“That just showed us that we’re strong-minded because we didn’t get frazzled by the way that we came out,” she said. “We picked it back up and knew what we were capable of doing.”
Young stayed close into the fourth quarter, pulling within 46-40 with 7:22 left, thanks to five straight points by Destiny Jackson.
But Kenwood got its transition game going and eventually pushed the lead to 21.
“I think we are special because we’ve got a bunch of players who know how to play with the ball, without the ball, whether it be our bigs, our smalls — they understand how to play,” Broncos coach Andre Lewis said. “They’re highly skilled.
“I joked with them with about five minutes left in the game that most people know that our conditioning, our preseason conditioning, our summer conditioning — it’s a little different than most. And I said, ‘This is why we do that stuff.’ And they all started laughing, like, ‘Yeah.'”
Another X-factor for Kenwood was the arrival this season of Walker-George, a transfer from DePaul Prep who is the cousin of Kenwood post Diann Jackson.
“London, she’s a really big help,” Brooks said. “She gets a lot of rebounds, she hustles and she communicates. … She brings the team together.”
“It’s another player that knows how to fill the gaps, an additional ball handler, great free-throw shooter, great offensive rebounder, can defend multiple positions,” Lewis said.
Jackson had a game-high 24 points for Young, while Kiaya Johnson and Alana Shields both scored 10.
— Kenwood continued its playoff run by knocking off Marist 62-48 in the Hinsdale Central Supersectional on Monday.
That win sends the Broncos (33-3) to state for the first time in program history. They meet Alton in the 4A semifinals at 11:30 a.m. Friday at CEFCU Arena in Normal, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s 8 p.m. title game.
Photos by Zoe Davis/OSA
