Senior night did not go the way that the OPRF girls basketball team had planned.
The Huskies were handed a 45-36 loss by Downers Grove North on Friday in Oak Park, which put a crimp in a special night where their upperclassmen and their retiring head coach were honored before the game.
The Huskies (10-16, 4-6) stayed with their West Suburban (Silver) Conference opponent for the first three quarters, but were outscored by the Trojans 14-7 in the fourth. OPRF head coach Bob Biggins gave credit to the tough and tight Downers Grove North defense.
“I think (the Trojans) played a good game,” he said following the loss. “We had a number of good looks, but we just couldn’t make any shots. It seemed like it went that way for the whole game. They played hard, they played smart. We just didn’t play as well.”
It was all about Huskies senior guard Stekara Hall and Trojans sophomore guard Sarah Costello in the first quarter; as Hall accounted for all 12 of the Huskies points and Costello scored eight of the Trojans 10 points.
“Stekara had a tremendous effort,” said Biggins, who is retiring at season’s end after coaching in the program in several capacities since 1997. “She scored a lot of points; she was the only one we could really get going offensively.”
The seniors did most of the scoring for the Huskies on the night they were recognized. Hall finished the evening with 21 points, while guard Biz Mullins followed with five. Guard Diamond Hearn also represented the seniors with four points, while forward Jasmine Walker chipped in two on a basket in the second quarter to put the Huskies up 16-14.
With the game tied at 16, Downers Grove North jumped on a 6-1 run to end the first half up 22-17.
“We didn’t execute well,” added Biggins. “We didn’t get any breaks; we had a lot of shots rim out. It seems like a lot of things were going (the Trojans’) way. When you play well and play aggressive like they did, sometimes you make your own breaks.”
The Huskies trailed for most of the third quarter, but went ahead late thanks to a steal by Hall. The Illinois State-bound senior broke away and made a layup to put her team up 23-22. But the lead was short-lived, as Trojan freshman guard Izzy Greenblat countered with a three-pointer. The teams exchanged threes again before Downers North took the lead for good.
It was a rough conference loss for the Huskies, who were riding a four-game win streak before dropping their last two.
“It’s a tough loss for us,” said Biggins. “We’ve had a few great games, but we’d like to have a few more.”
The Huskies have still won eight of their last 12 games. As their first post-season game against Bogan approaches, Biggins knows that his team will move on from this loss.
“We turned things around a little bit,” said Biggins. “We just can’t seem to stay consistent for a long period of time. We’ll just keep going, we’ll keep working, and we’ll see what happens.”