Girls basketball: Angelina Smith hits 1,000 career points as Bolingbrook tops Lincoln-Way East

BOLINGBROOK - Bolingbrook senior Angelina Smith came up with a steal midway through the third quarter Tuesday night, took the ball the other way and converted a layup.

The basket gave Smith 1,000 career points, and it couldn’t have happened in a more fitting way for a player who has made a career out of turning stellar defense into easy points.

“I pride myself on defense,” Smith said. “My principal, (Jason) Pascavage told me it was the perfect representation of me.”

Smith’s milestone night highlighted another huge win for the Raiders, who stayed undefeated by topping Lincoln-Way East 52-39 in a SouthWest Suburban Blue game.

Trinity Jones, a prized sophomore recruit in her first year at Bolingbrook after transferring from Naperville Central, led the Raiders (13-0, 4-0) with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Smith finished with 10 points and Airyel Jackson contributed seven points.

Makayla Kelly scored 11 points to lead Lincoln-Way East (11-3, 1-2). Lana Kerley had eight points and Illinois recruit Hayven Smith contributed five points and 11 rebounds.

The Raiders played their top conference challengers, Homewood-Flossmoor and the Griffins, on back-to-back nights and passed the tests with flying colors after beating H-F 78-54 on Monday.

“It was not only a tough back-to-back but we made the trip to Detroit on Saturday (for a 54-36 win over Wayne Memorial) and had the long bus trip back,” Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith said. “It was three games in four days, so we just wanted to get through this one.”

When Angelina Smith scored her 1,000th career point, the game was stopped and she was presented with a plaque. It was a meaningful moment for the DePaul recruit.

“It was definitely emotional, running up and seeing Yaya (Bueno) and Persais (Williams) and giving them big hugs,” Angelina Smith said. “We’ve been in this for a long time. We’ve played together since middle school.

“That’s one of the most memorable moments I’ll remember when I go to DePaul, after DePaul. It’s those types of moments that you’ll never forget.”

Chris Smith was thrilled to see his senior leader get her moment.

“It was well-deserved,” he said. “She’s had such a great career here. We kind of felt cheated for her because she didn’t have that full freshman year. I think we played 12 games, so that took away from her numbers but she’s had a tremendous career.”

Angelina Smith said the milestone caused her to think back on her Bolingbrook career.

“Having your freshman season cut because of COVID was tough,” she said. “I’ve always played with really good upperclassmen but I’ve always kind of run the team. It’s just a really good feeling.

“I give it all to my teammates. Most of my points come from steals, but they’re always assisting me and hitting me when I’m open. It’s just a really good feeling seeing my hard work pay off.”

Lincoln-Way East came out fast, jumping out to a 9-6 lead before the Raiders went on a 13-0 run over the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds of the first quarter and first 3:05 of the second quarter to take control.

“The best thing to do is just run the plays and stay composed,” Jones said. “We’re used to being in the lead, but them taking the lead just gave us motivation. We’re undefeated and we want to stay undefeated, so we had to get going.”

Bolingbrook built its lead to 27-14 at halftime and rolled from there, leading by as many as 20 points.

Still perfect, the Raiders are thinking about big things. Angelina Smith is ready for more special moments.

“The goal is to win state,” Angelina Smith said. “We thought we might take a couple losses playing good competition. But now that we’ve gotten this far, the goal is to stay undefeated and win state.”