Girls Basketball: Proviso West powers past Lyons

Updated: February 15, 2012 10:27PM

Jasmine Jackson scored a game-high 21 points to lead Proviso West over conference rival Lyons in its Class 4A playoff opener Wednesday night.

Lyons was one of three teams to hand Proviso West a conference loss during the Panthers’ run to a West Suburban Silver championship.

The Panthers did not forget in the rematch between the conference teams at the Class 4A Proviso West Regional semifinal Wednesday night.

Senior forward Jasmine Jackson scored a game-high 21 points and had nine rebounds to lead the Panthers to a 54-37 victory in the second win of the season in three meetings over Lyons.

Seventh-seeded Proviso West (22-10) pulled away with a 16-0 run in the first half. Fourteen of the points during the run opened the second quarter. Ninth-seeded Lyons (16-11) answered the run with a 12-2 burst to come within 30-27, but Lyons could not get any closer.

“I felt we played as a team,” Jackson said. “We got out to a big lead at the beginning and kept it going at the end.”

Ashanti Davis led Lyons with 15 points, but the junior forward scored only four points in the second half. Davis’ 12-foot running jumper was Lyons’ only basket in the fourth quarter.

In the second quarter, Davis took Lyons’ only two shots in the period.

Lyons didn’t take a second-quarter shot until Davis’ three-point miss with 3:05 before the half and then Davis ended the quarter with 1.9 seconds on a short running jumper.

Proviso will host No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Young (28-0) in the regional final at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I think we’ve got a chance to beat Whitney Young,” Jackson said. “They are really quick and like to shoot the ball.”

Lyons won the last game against the Panthers 57-48 on Jan. 21 in La Grange, but Proviso won the first time, 54-47, on Nov. 29 in Hillside.

Jackson led three starters in double figures. Freshman Taylor Pate added 12 points and guard Mikaela Boyd had 11 points.

Lyons went 10 minutes without a basket during Proviso’s 16-point, first-half run. Lyons led 9-1 in turnovers in the second quarter.

Seniors Colleen Connors (nine points), Clare Polega and Maggie Orlowski started their final games for Lyons, which improved on last year’s 9-17 season under Katie Meyers’ rookie season as a coach.

Lyons earned its first winning season in seven years by mixing seniors with sophomore Kayla Morrissey and freshman Victoria Swift.

“Their [senior] leadership turned this program around,” Meyers said. “It was a combination of youth and wisdom.”

Connors and Polega started every game and Orlowski came on during the second half of the season.

Lyons also finished with a 7-5 record in conference play. Lyons won four Silver games a year ago.

“It definitely felt a lot better than last year,” Connors said. “I wish we could have been better. I wish we could have kept going [in the playoffs].”

Connors ended a three-year varsity career by shooting 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Her only basket came on a first-quarter three-pointer.

“I will miss playing with the girls. You never make friends like you do by playing on a team,” Connors said.

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