Brooke Spychalski and Yorkville, on a day filled with emotion, rally past Oswego

YORKVILLE – Brooke Spychalski was swimming with emotion as she took the court Saturday.

The Yorkville senior guard, a three-year varsity player, was playing in her final home game.

But that’s just basketball.

Spychalski was also playing for her step mom, Annetta Spychalski, who was Yorkville’s honorary captain for the annual Hoops for Hope Communities vs. Cancer event with Oswego.

Annetta is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed last year and in Brooke’s words doing well and going to treatment.

“I personally never had someone in my life affected by cancer until my stepmom got cancer. It was really an emotional game, and an honor to play for someone that is close to me,” Spychalski said. “That drove me to play a good game. Lot of emotions, but at the same time it’s game time.”

Spychalski indeed answered the bell.

The Illinois Springfield commit scored a game-high 24 points. Yorkville turned to its full court pressure to turn around a five-point deficit in the third quarter and went on to a 74-67 win over visiting Oswego.

Spychalski also had five rebounds and three steals, twin sister Madi Spychalski 14 points and six rebounds and Sydney McCabe 13 points and four steals for the Foxes (18-9, 11-4).

Peyton Johnson had 21 points, six rebounds and two steals, Kendall Grant 16 points and Ashley Cook 12 points for Oswego (14-16, 5-10).

Yorkville swept the season series with Oswego for the fourth straight year, but trailed 35-31 at half as the Panthers shot 60% (12 for 20) in the first half, Grant scoring 14 of her 16.

“I feel like the first half, a lot of emotions running through us, we let up in the first half,” Spychalski said. “We went in the locker room and we said we had to be aggressive. We went to that pressure and it honestly turned the game around.”

Oswego led 37-32 after Johnson’s two free throws, but Spychalski knocked down a 3-pointer off a turnover and hit a tying baseline jumper after the Panthers turned it over on a five-second inbounds call.

Macie Jones' putback basket capped off the 11-0 game-turning run for a Foxes' team that’s been hit by illness lately.

Lainey Gussman missed a practice and didn’t start Saturday, and Yorkville coach Kim Wensits canceled practice Friday after she herself went home sick.

“That was our goal from the beginning, was to pressure them, but we’ve been going through illnesses,” Wensits said. “Knowing Oswego’s personnel I knew I wanted to pressure them. Doing that and trying to get that across without being at practice was challenging. We switched to a zone pressure and it made all the difference in the world.”

It was a world of trouble for Oswego, which had to burn three timeouts to figure out the pressure. The Panthers turned it over eight times in the quarter and ended it trailing 55-46.

“Collectively we as coaches and players struggled to figure it out. After that it was a pretty even game,” Oswego coach Dave Lay said. “Take out that lump of 3-4 minutes where they absolutely ambushed us and we didn’t have any answers.”

Spychalski, who was an efficient 7 for 16, set up Gussman for another basket during the run.

“She [Spychalski] seemed very patient today,” Wensits said. “She was working hard for her teammates and herself.”

McCabe, a junior guard, scored eight of her 13 points in the third quarter. Her steal and score gave the Foxes their biggest lead, 52-41.

“It’s nice to see. She’s probably one of our high-level scorers even though she doesn’t put up as many points,” Wensits said. “Her defense is her biggest improvement from last year. She’s taken it to heart.”

Johnson kept Oswego within striking distance with 16 of her 21 points in the second half. No surprise to her coach, who noted that the junior guard is averaging between 15 and 20 points during the last month.

“She’s a phenomenal player, probably our best defender, she’s just a great all-around player,” Lay said. “Her offensive skills have just blossomed.”

Lay’s group lost junior Ahlivia East to a knee injury on senior night recently, but freshman post Peytton Wiggins has provided a lift. She scored 20 against West Chicago and had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench Saturday.

“We brought her up slowly, worked her into the rotation, but she’s super athletic,” Lay said. “She’s definitely raw, as most freshmen are, but she’s come along.”