Josie Larson, Sanai Young score 16 apiece in Plano’s overwhelming of Sandwich

SANDWICH – Sanai Young missed last season with a shoulder injury.

This year she’s shouldering some of the offensive load for Plano while also causing chaos on the defensive end.

Young matched senior Josie Larson with a 16-point effort at Sandwich on Tuesday night as the Reapers overwhelmed the hosts 62-30 in the Kishwaukee River Conference opener for both squads.

“Mostly, I like to help my team by passing the ball, and I like to be there on defense,” Young said. “I’m still trying to work on my shot a little bit and trying to focus more on other parts of my game like passing and making plays, things like that.”

Young scored half of her points during a 14-0 run to open the second half as the Reapers eliminated any thoughts Sandwich had of rallying.

Plano (5-2, 1-0) had already led 38-21 at halftime, but thanks to the Reapers’ fantastic start in the third quarter, the lead grew to 52-21 after a steal and layup from Young.

“I love having Sanai back. She’s one of the ones who can push the ball forward and can get the offense moving and everyone hustling,” Larson said. “And having Nylah Mathews down in the post is a really big help.”

Sandwich (4-2, 0-1) led 7-5 midway through the opening quarter, but an 8-0 run from the Reapers gave them the lead for good.

Larson followed her three-point play with a 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the second quarter to extend Plano’s lead to 31-16.

“Josie’s been around. This is her fourth year, so we knew what she could do,” Sandwich coach Steve Treptow said. “Sanai (Young), the point guard, was fantastic, and (Plano coach) Tristan (Spivey) does a fantastic job with them. He’s awesome. They’re lucky to have him. They’re a good team. They really are. They’ve got size, and their senior post (Nylah Mathews) has improved a lot from last year.”

Mathews had 10 points. Sophomore Chloe Rowe grabbed 13 rebounds. Freshman Jailyn Brown scored six points, and Jadyn Long had five.

“Chloe (Rowe) is a good post player who gets a ton of rebounds,” Spivey said. “She’s a rebounding machine. She really anchors us down there. It was Jailyn’s (Brown) highest-scoring game, and she’s getting more aggressive, and we need that out of her. I think our whole season kind of revolves around other people stepping up.”

Handling the basketball is also key while taking advantage of the turnovers they create with their defensive pressure. Plano limited its turnovers to 11, while Sandwich committed 24.

“I think that’s been a big difference,” Spivey said. “We’ve pretty much cut our turnovers in half. I think we were like 22 turnovers a game last year, and we play at a pace where we like to push. Our next step is starting the game fast. We’ve been kind of starting slow a little bit, but I think we can be a very good team.”

Senior Hannah Treptow led Sandwich with 16 points. Junior Kayden Corneils had nine points, and senior Aleece Subat had the remaining five.

“They made Hannah work her butt off, putting pressure on her the entire time down the court, and that’s hard to play that way,” Steve Treptow said. “Our guards just got to handle pressure a little bit better. But we’ll be fine.”

Coach Treptow acknowledged that sophomore Alayna Harris didn’t feel well in the second half after a strong first half. While she didn’t score, she led the team with eight rebounds, all coming in the first half.