Lyons Township High School senior Owen Carroll gladly celebrated at the expense of rival Hinsdale Central one last time, Feb. 17. The Lions just won 54-42 on their rival’s home court to clinch a share of their first West Suburban Conference Silver Division title since 2015 with an 11-1 record.
LTHS (22-6) split its meetings with co-champion York (27-4), which was beating Downers Grove North 39-31 at the same time.
“It means a lot. This is such a tough conference to win. Especially beating Hinsdale to win conference, too. It means everything,” Carroll said. “It’s an amazing feeling. We kind of felt that we were going to be pretty good this season and seeing it come to fruition is something we are very proud of.”
Nate Woods (21 points), Grant Smith (12 points, 4 rebounds), Carroll (10 points, 5 rebounds), Timmy Sloan (7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals), Tommy Blyth (4 points, 5 rebounds) and Grayson Lee (4 rebounds) fueled the Lions, who edged the fourth-place Red Devils (12-18, 6-6) in La Grange 39-33 Dec. 12.
The Lions trailed the rematch 25-22 at halftime but pulled ahead 36-33 after three quarters. They scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and answered a pair of Hinsdale Central threes with a dunk by Smith to start a 6-0 run and lead 52-39.
“It was a huge night for the guys. We knew Hinsdale was going to put up a fight,” LTHS coach Tom Sloan said. “We’ve had really good teams come through (in past years) and it’s just a really hard league to win.”
Hinsdale Central will happily see Carroll graduate. Last season, his amazing buzzer-beating shot just beyond half-court gave the Lions a 58-55 home victory and snapped the Red Devils’ 25-game winning streak.
“It’s just as good (clinching the Silver),” Carroll said. “Beating them any time is fun, especially since this is my last Hinsdale game so a nice memory to have.”
The Lions then beat Downers Grove South 61-47 on Senior Night Saturday to extend their winning streak to 11 games entering the Class 4A Jones Regional. Smith (28 points, 6 rebounds), Woods (12 points, 5 rebounds), Sloan (7 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) and Dylan Holcer (7 rebounds) paced the victory.
The Lions are the No. 9 seed in the Hinsdale Central Sectional and begin regionals at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against No. 8 Oak Lawn (23-8). The winner most likely plays No. 1 Curie (26-1) for the regional title at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27 and a sectional semifinal berth at 7 p.m. March 3.
“We’re hoping we can take this momentum into playoffs,” Carroll said.
LTHS girls basketball
Two days after reaching 1,000 career varsity points, Lyons Township girls basketball senior Gwen Smith was doing everything for just one more basket Feb. 19. Smith had the final shot of regulation in the Lions’ class 4A St. Ignatius Regional final against the host Wolfpack. Smith drove left of the lane heavily guarded and her bank shot was unsuccessful. The Lions went scoreless in overtime and lost 48-43 after trailing 35-25 during the third quarter.
“I’m really proud of everyone. It’s hard to come back in such a high-pressure game,” Smith said. “We were struggling with our offense the whole game so it really felt good to get those moments back. But at the end of the day, it just didn’t fall our way.”
Smith (16 points, 7 rebounds), freshman Kennedy Moore (11 points, 6 rebounds), senior Avery Mezan (7 points, 3 rebounds) led the Lions (20-11), the No. 4 Hinsdale Central Sectional seed who began the season beating Benet Nov. 17 with four seniors and Moore starting before a wave of injuries.
All-state senior and Cornell recruit Emma O’Brien was lost to ACL knee surgery after being injured at York Feb. 3. Mezan (broken hand) and senior Anna Bigenwald (sprained ankle) also missed significant time.
“It was a pleasure to have Avery come back and awesome to see (the seniors) play their last game together,” LTHS coach Meghan Hutchens said. “This is a good group that has worked really hard and had a lot of success. This one game doesn’t define us.”
Smith elevated her game since the absences and again versus No. 5 St. Ignatius (21-11) with 10 second-half points.
The Lions’ five straight points tied the game 41-41 and Moore hit two of three free throws with 1:21 left for a 43-43 tie.
After the Wolfpack missed two shots, Smith got the rebound and the Lions called a timeout with 28.0 seconds left in regulation.
“I saw (Smith’s drive) developing and her posting and just chose not to call (another) timeout,” Hutchens said. “It was a good shot. Were people on her? Yes, but Gwen’s the person you want taking the shot.”
Smith, who will play at Gannon University (Erie, Pa.), surpassed 1,000 points with her first-quarter three in the 57-16 regional semifinal victory over Morton Feb. 17. She achieved the feat in only three varsity seasons.
“I feel like it’s a testimony to my hard work and obviously wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my coaches at LT and on my travel team (Full Package Athletics) and also my teammates. It was a really big milestone for me,” Smith said.
Moore, sophomore Sydney Munson, junior Sinclair Zieba and freshman Evie Riopell made significant strides as starters or key subs. One indication was the 65-47 victory Feb. 6 over regional champion Glenbard West just after Bigenwald returned.
“It’s scary being a freshman on varsity. I’ve gotten way more confident in taking shots and communicating with my team,” Moore said. “The seniors were 100 percent the biggest factor. All of them are great leaders.”
“There’s not many teams that will go through as much adversity that we have throughout a season,” Hutchens said. “(Our underclassmen) have stepped up in big moments for us.”
