Riverside Brookfield High School’s Addie Vaia didn’t think much on the basketball court, Jan. 6, against Ridgewood. The senior guard simply shot and scored. Her personal-best 21 points, behind a personal-best 5 three-pointers, helped the Bulldogs prevail 51-42.
Arianna Hudson (16 points), Abby Weinert (7 rebounds, 6 assists), Ryzewski (7 rebounds, 4 steals) and Greta Lupfer (6 rebounds) also contributed for RBHS (6-13, 4-3 in Upstate Eight Conference East Division).
“I think the key to scoring a lot of points is to not think and just shoot the ball when I am open,” said Vaia, who made 8 of 20 shots (5 for 14 on threes).
“I’ve learned that the moments where I hesitate to shoot are the shots that end up not falling. Also, one of my roles on the team is to get down the floor quickly on fast breaks. Against Ridgewood my teammates did a good job at spotting when me or someone else were open and getting the ball to us quickly.”
RBHS lost to Streamwood 54-42, Thursday, and to Hinsdale Central 76-36, Saturday. Hudson had 14 points and nine rebounds against Streamwood.
LTHS girls basketball
The Lions’ emotional 51-44 victory at York, Friday, resulted in a most devastating loss. Senior standout and Cornell recruit Emma O’Brien suffered a probable season-ending injury to her left knee with 3:57 left in the third quarter.
O’Brien, whose injury was evaluated Monday, recently scored a career-high 35 points against Prospect, Dec. 23. Senior starter and fellow four-year varsity player Avery Mezan also remains out with a broken bone in her hand, suffered during the Lions’ following game Dec. 26.
“I was really proud that our girls were able to finish the game [at York]. They were very emotional for many reasons,” LTHS coach Meghan Hutchens said. “The message was to play for Emma but, more importantly, to remember the details of the game. They really tuned in. It was cool to see, especially with how heightened their emotions were.”
LTHS (14-5, 4-3 in West Suburban Conference Silver Division) trailed York 27-25 at halftime but scored the first seven points of the third quarter.
O’Brien was injured driving to the basket with the Lions leading 34-31, yet they ended the quarter with the last six points for a 42-33 lead, finishing with back-to-back fast-break layups by Gwen Smith off Anna Bigenwald passes. The Dukes closed to 44-41 with 3:49 left before four straight points by Kennedy Moore and a Smith free throw put the game away.
Smith joined O’Brien in scoring 17 points and Moore had 11.
On Saturday, the Lions lost 41-32 at home to Silver co-leader Downers Grove North (17-2, 6-1).
The Lions closed to 25-24 with 6:19 left on Moore’s basket and had a chance to take the lead but a steal and layup from Downers North junior standout Campbell Thulin (career-high 29 points on 11-for-15 shooting) ignited a 9-0 run for a 34-24 lead with 3:34 left.
The Lions threatened at 35-31 after Smith’s basket with 1:00 remaining. Smith (16 points) and Bigenwald (9 points) were the Lions’ leading scorers. Sophomore Sydney Munson joined the starting lineup.
“The hardest part [after O’Brien’s injury] was trying to turn around and play Downers the next day without having any recovery mentally and physically,” Hutchens said. “Overall with how much adversity we had to face, our girls played well.”
RBHS boys basketball
After three straight victories with double-digit threes, the Bulldogs struggled with outside shooting against Nazareth Academy, Saturday.
The Bulldogs (12-5, 5-1 in UEC East) still found a way to win again 61-56 after trailing 33-27 with 3:56 left in the third quarter.
“Toward the second half of the third quarter and the fourth quarter we were running better offense and that was getting us better shots,” RBHS coach Mike Reingruber said. “When the ball goes in more, it’s going to help. We’ve been very inconsistent shooting from the outside and that’s what we’ve been working on.”
Cam Mercer (27 points with 3 threes, 7 rebounds), Liam Enright (13 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists), Colin Cimino (9 points, 6 rebounds), Ben Biskupic (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Noah VanTholen (7 assists, 4 steals) paced the Bulldogs (12-5, 5-1 in UEC East), who made just 5 of 27 on threes but 14 of 18 two-pointers.
With RBHS holding to one-point leads, two free throws by Cimino with 27.5 seconds and Mercer with 15.1 seconds established a 59-56 advantage. After a Nazareth timeout, VanTholen stole the ball and added free throws with 2.1 seconds.
Seniors Sawyer Holstine (16 points), Drew Hyland (14 points) and Jack Ariens (13 points) led the Roadrunners (6-11).
The Bulldogs also defeated Streamwood 82-30 Thursday and Ridgewood 66-40 in UEC East play, Jan. 6. RBHS led Streamwood 23-2 after one quarter. Reaching double digs were Mercer (22 points with 4 threes, 6 steals), who hit 8 of 9 shots, Cimino (14 points with 3 threes) and Phillip Hilgenberg (10 points).
Mercer (25 points with 5 threes), Enright (12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) and Cimino and VanTholen (7 rebounds each) led the victory over Ridgewood.
LTHS boys basketball
The Lions (10-5, 3-1 in Silver) once again found their hot hand from the outside Saturday.
Their 30-point third quarter, fueled by 7 threes, blew the game open for a 72-52 victory at Rich Township (10-7), following a season-low offensive output in Friday’s 40-23 home loss to York (15-3, 5-0) in the early battle of Silver co-leaders.
“It was the difference of in 24 hours how making shots can change the outcome of a game,” LTHS coach Tom Sloan said.
“We played very well pretty much the entire [Rich Township] game. That [third quarter] was nice to see.”
Grant Smith (24 points), Owen Carroll (18 points), Nate Woods (15 points) and Timmy Sloan (10 points) led the offense Saturday.
LTHS had scored at least 65 points each game in starting the season 5-0.
“Shooting is all about confidence and getting yourself in a rhythm and enjoying what you’re doing,” coach Sloan said. “I felt like we did that on Saturday. Hopefully that’ll continue to carry over.”
Against York, Carroll (8 points) and Smith (6 points, 5 rebounds) each had 2 threes as LTHS made just 8 of 39 shots (4 of 27 threes). Smith’s three cut the deficit to 34-23 with 6:04 left before the Dukes scored the final six points.
“A lot of the offensive possessions we had were pretty good,” coach Sloan said. “York makes it tough with some of the guys they have to challenge shots but we had opportunities.”
