Girls Basketball: Lincoln-Way East, Marist ready for challenge

Updated: February 22, 2012 11:29PM

Challenges can come in many different forms.

The one Lincoln-Way East is facing in Thursday’s Class 4A Sandburg Sectional final pretty much is a combination of them all, in the eyes of Griffins coach Jim Martin.

“I’ve seen them a few times. Marist has the total team package with great athletes that have size and quickness,” he said.

That’s some challenge.

“It will be a great challenge,” Martin said. “But we’re excited to be here.”

No. 4 East (26-4) is appearing in its second sectional final. In 2009-10, the Griffins’ longest postseason run ended in an 81-62 loss to Marian Catholic.

In both cases, East advanced to the sectional final by beating Homewood-Flossmoor. Taylor Johnson had 19 points and Caitlin McMahon 14 points and 12 rebounds in their 54-41 victory Tuesday night.

“I really think we won because of the team understanding our defensive philosophy on stopping them,” Martin said. “We really helped one another stopping the penetration, and we rebounded well in the second half.”

Against the top-ranked RedHawks (31-1), they’ll be facing one of the state’s most experienced starting five in Leah Bolton, JeTaun Rouse, Randyll Butler, Asianna Bey and Claire Ryan.

Marist survived a stern challenge Monday from Marian Catholic before turning on the jets with an 18-0 fourth-quarter run en route to a 63-49 victory.

Struggling at times in that one, the RedHawks could have filled a highlight reel with steals and fast-break baskets in a regional final romp over T.F. North.

“We’ll need to control their transition game and not give up easy points,” Martin said. “Second, we need to handle the ball against their pressure. We’ve played well (of late) and have gotten this far by playing as a team and understanding on the defensive end what we need to do to stop the opponent.”

Marist is taking aim at its third sectional title. The RedHawks have won 12 in a row since losing 57-52 to Trinity on Jan. 16 at the McDonald’s Shootout.

Defensively, the RedHawks are planning to take aim on Johnson, who is averaging 15.3 points per game and is the Griffins’ fastest player on the floor.

“Taylor Johnson is phenomenal, I think, as a point guard,” Marist coach Mary Pat Connolly said. “We’re going in with the saying, ‘If you cut off the head, the body dies.’

“If we can kind of contain Taylor Johnson, because she runs everything on the floor, then, hopefully, they’ll have trouble getting the ball in to the McMahon sisters.”

In the Class 3A Hillcrest Sectional final, the host Hawks (25-3) will play Morgan Park (22-8) in a rematch of last season’s sectional title game at Rich East. In that one, Hillcrest rallied from a seven-point deficit with 3:25 left to play to prevail 81-76.

Tuesday, both teams were impressive. Shannise Heady and Jasmine Sanders led No. 2 Hillcrest to a 61-34 win over Oak Forest, while No. 6 Morgan Park exploded in the second half behind Kendyll Nunn and Shami Goodman to eliminate Rich Central 74-50.

“Hillcrest is a great team,” Morgan Park coach Thomas Johnson said. “They’ve only lost three games. We’ve lost eight. We’re just glad that we can be in the game with them.

“We’re down players (because of health issues), but I don’t cry about what we don’t have. We have to work with who we’ve got.”

Johnson said it will be a game-day decision whether guard Debra Jenkins (back spasms) will play. Top scorer Gabrielle Richmond was lost earlier in the season to a knee injury.

Hillcrest will be trying to advance to its fourth consecutive supersectional.

“For us, it’s one game at a time,” Hawks coach John Maniatis said. “We’re looking at every four minutes as a game within a game. We need to try to make sure that we’re controlling the tempo, and pushing the tempo to speeds that haven’t been seen.

“The kids have worked hard. They’ve earned this opportunity to be in this moment.”

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