Thompson's efforts off bench carry Young

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:24PM

One of the things that makes Young so tough is that several of its reserves are just as good as the starters.

Take Janee Thompson. The 5-6 junior guard, who had ACL surgery last June, has only been back playing since the middle of January. But Thompson made her presence known Thursday, coming off the bench to score a career-high 17 points in Young's 84-48 rout of Mother McAuley in the Class 4A Lyons Sectional championship game.

It was the eighth straight sectional championship for the Dolphins (25-2), who are ranked 10th in the nation by USA Today and will take a 17-game winning streak into Monday's St. Xavier Supersectional against Marian Catholic.

"We have a really deep bench," Thompson said. "Everyone on our team can pretty much come off the bench and play hard and give us great minutes."

Mother McAuley (20-12), which was seeking its first sectional title since 2003, led 7-3 early and trailed only 25-21 midway through the second quarter when Thompson erupted to score 10 points during a 13-6 run. That included four free throws, two driving layups and a pull-up jumper with :02 left that gave Young a 38-27 halftime lead.

"I was just trying to take what the defense gave me," said Thompson, who also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. "My drives were there and when I got to the basket it was open, so I just finished my layups in the second quarter that I didn't in the first quarter.

The Dolphins switched to a half-court zone trap in the second half and outscored the Mighty Macs 25-8 in the third quarter to blow the game open. With Thompson and backcourt mates Chanise Jenkins and Kiana Johnson clicking on all cylinders, Young was a runaway train.

"We stopped the stupid fouls and we picked up the defensive intensity," Thompson said. "Everything just started to click."

"[Thompson] is a whole different dimension so it was good to see her start to get her rhythm back because I think we need that the rest of the way," Young coach Corry Irvin said. "With the three of them on the court at the same time I think we're able to do a lot of things because all three of them can shoot, all three of them can drive and she makes us a whole lot quicker."

Jenkins tallied 19 points and Johnson had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Both sank two three-pointers. Forward Linnae Harper added 17 points and eight rebounds and Bryeasha Blair chipped in seven, all in the first half.

Senior guard Molly Stasaitis paced McAuley with 19 points, three assists and two steals. Alyssa Siwek chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds.

"I really think when they started to trap, especially at halftime when they realized a half-court zone trap would be more effective than their full-court press, I think that's what really got us," Stasaitis said. "I feel like we played our hardest and that's all we could do."

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