Girls basketball: Kaitlyn Parker, Downers Grove North all smiles in tight regional win over Downers Grove South

DOWNERS GROVE – Downers Grove North junior forward Kaitlyn Parker doesn’t always play with a smile on her face, but when she does, it usually means sad times are ahead for opponents.

“Parker is intense,” teammate Maggie Fleming said. “There’s times where she’ll get fired up and get a little frustrated, but same with everyone else. But for the most part, she’s a positive person to have out there and a great teammate.

“When she’s got a smile on her face, that helps everyone else perform and do well.”

That’s what happened Monday night at the Class 4A Downers Grove South Regional semifinals. Playing with an infectious enthusiasm, Parker tallied 15 of her game-high 25 points in the second half to spur the fourth-seeded Trojans to a 58-50 victory over upset-minded Downers Grove South.

The win advanced Downers North (21-8) into Thursday’s regional final against fifth-seeded Neuqua Valley (20-10), which eliminated 13th-seeded Oswego East 56-50 in the first semifinal.

“Coming into this game, we were so excited,” Parker said. “We were hyped.

“We wanted to get it done early, but we let them come back a little bit. I knew I had to turn it up, you know?”

Yes, that was evident in the second quarter, when the 12th-seeded Mustangs (17-14) took a 17-10 lead on a 3-pointer by Allison Jarvis. It was a stunning turn of events considering the Trojans had routed the Mustangs 73-31 on the same floor Dec. 17.

“I have to give a ton of credit to South. They played great,” Downers North coach Stephan Bolt said. “They had kids step up and make plays and make shots. They gave us a real battle. They played awesome.”

Megan Ganschow paced the Mustangs with 19 points. Emily Petring had 14 points and Jarvis had eight points and three assists.

The Trojans rallied to take a 22-21 halftime lead on the strength of two free throws from Anne Stephens, who finished with six points and seven rebounds, including six on the offensive end.

The second half was a back-and-forth tug of war with Ganschow and Petring taking turns scoring for South while Parker and Fleming lit up the scoreboard for North.

The Trojans shot just 6 for 25 in the first half, but sank 12 of 23 after intermission, with Parker and Fleming accounting for 29 of the Trojans’ 36 second-half points.

Fleming, who led all players with nine rebounds, scored 14 points in the second half on 5-for-5 shooting including three 3-pointers.

Parker sank big shot after big shot, including two game-tying floaters in the lane in the third quarter, which ended when she drained a 19-foot jumper at the buzzer for a 41-38 lead.

“It felt amazing,” Parker said of the buzzer-beater. “I was so excited.”

So were her teammates.

“She’s been really killing it the last couple games and showing up when we need her, so today was great,” Fleming said. “She kept the momentum going and kept the energy high.

“She hit a couple floaters in the lane and that changed the momentum of the game. We were down, and then that got us going, and I really think that’s what led us to start to break away.”

The best was yet to come. After Petring hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Mustangs a 46-45 edge, Parker drove the lane and converted a three-point play with 4:06 left in the fourth quarter.

It put North ahead to stay and was the start of a decisive 9-0 run that saw Violet Mitchell make a free throw and Fleming convert a three-point play and score on a drive for a 54-46 cushion with 1:38 left.

“I knew we had to make some big-time plays,” Parker said. “I saw the wide-open lane and I just went up.”

Parker went 10 for 10 from the free-throw line, including her team’s final four points. The Trojans were 18 of 22 from the stripe.

“They came ready to play, but we wanted it so bad,” Parker said. “We started playing as a team in the second half. We came together and it was great.”

Bolt was pleased with his team’s resiliency.

“I feel our kids down the stretch stepped up and made some big plays,” Bolt said. “Parker finished it with some free throws, and offensively we executed some things, so that was fun to see the kids be able to do that.”

Parker was beaming afterward, but happiness was not her only emotion after vanquishing North’s crosstown rivals.

“It’s a sense of relief,” she said. “It’s only the first game down, but we’re excited to see what we can do.”