Girls Basketball: Young blasts by Phillips

Updated: February 2, 2012 8:42PM

For Young the game was about maintaining its dominance in the Public League. For Phillips the game was about trying to fit in with the elites.

Young left no doubt, from the very beginning, that it is still the team to beat. The No. 1 Dolphins easily dispatched the Wildcats with a 72-24 victory in the first girl’s semi-final of the Public League playoffs at Chicago State University on Thursday.

The Dolphins will vie for its fourth consecutive city title when it takes on Morgan Park at Chicago State on Saturday.

“It’s kind of exciting to be in this position,” Young coach Corry Irvin said. “I don’t think it’s been done since the Marshall teams of the eighties or nineties. It’s good for the Public League.”

Young (25-0) scored the first 24 points of the game to leave little doubt about it being a contest. In that time and throughout the game, Linnae Harper and Alexis Lloyd established themselves both in the scoring column and the boards.

Harper scored 12 of her game-high 22 points and Lloyd added eight of her 14 points in the first quarter. Both players collected 10 rebounds for the game.

“We take every game seriously,” Harper said. “We play like it’s our last game and we go out there to gain a lot of respect.”

Phillips (20-6) surprised many by making it to the semifinals. The Wildcats won the Blue-Central conference but were the 21st seed. The school used to be among the elite boys basketball and football programs in the 1970’s but has been quiet over the last several years.

“We are turning the school around,” Phillips coach Larry Stokes said. “We are a young team and we got out-scrapped by Young. They are a disciplined team with a high basketball I.Q. That’s where we want to get to next year.”

Phillips started no seniors and was led by Zemoria Jernigan with 10 points. Jernigan also put the Wildcats on the board by connecting on a pair of free throws with 1:09 left in the first quarter.

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