By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The York girls basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a recent 50-41 victory over Downers Grove South in West Suburban Conference crossover play.
York led 13-12 after the first quarter and 25-19 at halftime. The Dukes led 34-25 after three quarters.
Danielle Dennis led York with 21 points, which included one 3-pointer and a 6-for-8 effort from the free-throw line. Dennis scored seven points in the first quarter and added eight points in the fourth.
Caylin Rufus added eight points, while Matty Stark had six points, including one 3-pointer.
York finished the regular season 18-9 and took second in the WSC Silver Division with an 8-4 record.
In earlier action, the Dukes dropped a 35-29 double-overtime game against Downers Grove North in WSC Silver Division action.
York trailed 9-6 after the first quarter and tied it at 15-15 heading into halftime. York led 22-17 heading into the fourth quarter but was outscored 10-5 in the fourth to force overtime. The two teams each scored two points in the first overtime and then Downers North outscored York 6-0 in the second overtime.
“It was a Downers Grove North game,” said York coach Brandon Collings. “They like to keep the game in the 30s. They run their offense sometimes for three minutes and it feels like forever. We couldn’t get it to our pace.”
Collings has been impressed with York’s defensive efforts in recent weeks. “We’ve been playing pretty good defense,” he said. “We played the next day against Oswego East (after Downers North) and won 46-30. Whether we have put the ball in the hole or not, our defense has been there all year. We’re athletic and long. We’ve gotten better at help side and we’re better at boxing out. We have athletes and they are long athletes.”
Dennis continues to be a steady presence for York. “Danielle is Danielle,” said Collings. “She is always around 15 points a game.”
Rufus and Stark also have stepped things up of late. “Caylin has had a couple good games recently and Matty has been playing well,” the coach noted. “Matty is definitely the third scorer who has been stepping up for us. We didn’t know who that would be. Matty Stark has stepped up and has been the outside threat we need. We have girls who can attack the basket and we have the inside game. But besides Danielle, we were looking for that 3-point shooter. Matty is around one-and-a-half or two threes a game now.”
Collings has been pleased with the progress he’s seen throughout the season. “We’ve played with some good teams and had leads on good teams in the second half and later in games,” he said. “Glenbard West we had beat for two quarters and Nazareth we were winning for a half. We’ve shown in spurts that we can play with the top teams. We haven’t put it all together for four quarters. We have this week (last week) to tighten things up and see if we can put those four quarters together in the playoffs.”
York opened Class 4A postseason play earlier this week against St. Charles North at the Wheaton-Warrenville South regional. York is the No. 7 seed in the Lake Park sectional, while St. Charles North is the No. 10 seed. If York won against St. Charles North, it will play either Wheaton-Warrenville South (No. 2 seed), Hoffman Estates (No. 14 seed) or Fenton (No. 18 seed) tonight at 7 p.m. for the regional title at Wheaton-Warr
