Perkins, Hinsdale South feel better against Addison Trail

Kennedi Perkins didn't play as if she was sick Saturday. We'll take Hinsdale South coach Scott Tanaka's word for it, though.

The 5-foot-5 freshman guard scored 26 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and 3 steals to lead the Hornets to a 47-35 West Suburban Conference Gold Division girls basketball victory in Addison.

"She's a special talent. That's all you can say about her," said Tanaka, in his first season coaching the Hornets (3-3, 1-0). "That while being very, very sick. She missed two days of practice this week even, she was that sick. Thank goodness she was able to get healthy enough for us to play a game today. But she's a special, special talent."

Hinsdale South pulled away from Addison Trail in the second quarter, going on a 19-3 run to take a 27-11 lead on a Sylvannah Batchelor putback with 1:44 to play before halftime. That was the Hornets' biggest lead of the game.

"Honestly, I think that what really got us going was just our connection on the floor and our defense, just playing very good defense," Hornets senior Emily Koziol said. "Like being smooth with the ball on offense. Everything all around. I think we did really well in that second quarter especially."

Most of the offensive damage was caused by Perkins and Koziol, who hit four 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.

"We couldn't score. We couldn't stop (Perkins). We couldn't stop (Koziol)," Blazers coach Rob Schader said. "... We didn't play very hard defensively. We were kind of out of it on the bench. Just all around not very good. Not a very good effort out of our team."

Ironically, the Blazers' best effort came from another kid who wasn't feeling well. Senior Serena Gilliam led Addison Trail (3-3, 1-1) with 17 points.

"She put the time in and the extra effort in in the fall to get back to where she needed to be, so good for her," Schader said of Gilliam. "It finally paid off for her."

The Blazers cut the Hinsdale South lead to 41-33 with 2:06 to play in the game on a Gilliam baseline jumper, but Perkins went 6 of 6 at the free-throw line the rest of the way to build the lead back into double digits.