Despite shooting struggles, Emma O’Brien leads Lyons past Downers Grove North

LA GRANGE – Lyons forward Emma O’Brien doesn’t get discouraged when her shots aren’t falling.

That mentality came in handy Saturday when the 6-foot-1 junior guard/forward missed seven of eight shots at one point against Downers Grove North.

“When I’m not hitting my shots, I just try to find other ways to affect the game, if that’s rebounding or passing to my teammates,” O’Brien said. “Today was posting up because I had a smaller player on me.

“I try to stay engaged in the game as best as I can.”

O’Brien finished 5 of 15 from the floor but went 8-for-8 from the free throw line. She tallied 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half to lead the host Lions to a 43-35 West Suburban Conference Silver Division victory.

It was LT’s second win over Downers North this season, but this one was a much tougher slog than the first meeting, which the Lions won 40-23 exactly one month ago.

This one started out in similar fashion as Nora Ezike, Gwen Smith and O’Brien all made shots to give the Lions (17-1, 6-0) a 6-0 lead.

But the Trojans (13-6, 4-3) fought back behind the play of Campbell Thulin and Ady Fanta, who combined to score 15 points in the first half. They went ahead twice, on a Fanta’s 3-pointer and later when Abby Gross scored inside off a pass from Urja Smith that put the visitors up 20-18 with 3:15 left in the second quarter.

Neither team scored again until O’Brien took a feed from Avery Mezan and buried a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer for a 21-20 LT edge.

Still the Trojans didn’t go away.

Center Elizabeth Murphy scored on a drive to give North a 25-23 lead at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter.

But O’Brien, who was being guarded by the 5-7 Gross, got it going and the Lions took off.

O’Brien’s inside basket tied the game and Smith’s inside bucket put the Lions back in front. It was part of a 16-5 run that O’Brien capped by rebounding her own miss and sinking two free throws for a 39-30 lead with 5:00 to go in the game.

“I feel like toward the end of the third quarter we kind of started gaining some momentum,” O’Brien said. “But in the beginning of the fourth is when we really felt all the momentum and started making more of our shots and making better decisions.”

For O’Brien, that meant being aggressive in the paint.

“I saw there was a smaller defender on me so I could always post her up,” said O’Brien, who also had a game-high eight rebounds to go with two assists and two blocks. “Since I wasn’t making my shots from the outside, I was like, ‘This is another way I could affect the game.’”

That proved decisive.

“Emma taking the initiative to be a presence inside against her matchup was the turn of the game,” LT coach Meghan Hutchens said. “Taking advantage of those free opportunities really helped us capitalize at the end and in the game in general.”

The Lions went 12 for 12 from the line with all of the attempts taken by O’Brien and Ezike, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

“Credit to Downers - they played really good defense,” Hutchens said. “They were in our passing lanes, they were challenging us to not hit our first option, maybe not even our second, to go to the third.

“Credit to Emma and the girls for holding it together and keeping their composure and playing through some adversity.”

Thulin led the Trojans with 13 points, five boards, three steals and two assists before fouling out with two minutes left. Fanta added eight points while Gross and freshman Caitlin Sandridge each scored six points.

“I’m proud of our effort,” Downers North coach Stephan Bolt said. “I thought we played and competed very hard, which I was happy to see. We can build from that.”

Few teams have two dominant posts like O’Brien and the 6-2 Ezike. The Trojans could not match up size-wise with them.

“I thought Abby Gross did a really good job on O’Brien, giving her a really hard time, forcing her to shoot tough shots, and Campbell made some things difficult for Ezike,” Bolt said. “But we need some more kids to step up and make some shots. I think that will help.”

O’Brien said playing the Trojans twice has helped the Lions.

“We don’t play a lot of teams like that,” O’Brien said. “We had to adjust to their style of play.

“They really limit our possessions. We had to value the ball and make smarter decisions because we didn’t have as much room for error as we do against other teams. We just stayed focused on all of our possessions and took advantage of what they gave us.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/my-suburban-life/2025/01/12/despite-shooting-struggles-emma-obrien-leads-lyons-past-downers-grove-north/