York knocks off IC Catholic
York has seen what Kaitlyn Kjome is capable of. It's seen what Megan Juneman can do.
The Dukes would love to see how good they can be with both players on the court together.
They can't wait to get Carley Schwartz back also.
Still, the Dukes took a 47-37 nonconference victory Wednesday against IC Catholic Prep in a cross-town nonconference game benefiting the fight against cancer.
"I don't know a lot of (Knights), but a lot of my teammates do," Juneman said. "So we were all really excited, and it's a great turnout, which is great. And it's for a good cause, which is also an awesome thing. So it was a lot of fun."
It could be even more fun if the Dukes could get rid of this injury bug.
"When we get Kjome back with Juneman, it's going to free us up, because right now we're forcing Sara (Krissinger), who's our best scorer/slasher, we're forcing her in the middle, we're forcing her down low," York coach Brandon Collings said. "She's having to do stuff that doesn't benefit the team as much because she's a little bit bigger guard."
Still, Juneman, a 6-foot forward, and Krissinger, a 5-10 guard/forward, both scored 15 points, with Juneman adding 9 rebounds.
Due to injuries Juneman and Kjome each have played in just nine games this season for York (14-3), with Kjome suffering a knee injury in Juneman's first game of the season. Collings hopes to get Kjome back next week.
Schwartz, a guard, missed her second straight game because of a back injury.
"They sat in a zone the whole time," Collings said of ICCP. "Our zone killer is Carley Schwartz. She could have had, you know, 15 (3-pointer) opportunities there."
Still, it was a good game for the Dukes to work out their post-holiday rust before Friday's important West Suburban Conference Silver Division matchup against Downers Grove North.
"What's good here is we haven't played in a while, so it's nice to get out there, shake a little bit of the rust off here before Downers, then we get (Oak Park-River Forest) on Saturday," Collings said.
York pulled away from the Knights (12-9) early. A Sophie Schoonveld 3-pointer to start the second quarter gave them a double-digit lead at 17-6, and by halftime it was 26-9. The Knights never got within single digits again.
"Take away that second quarter, who knows," Knights coach Todd Fisher said. "But I'll say this: I'm proud of the kids. We were down 21 and we lost by 10. If we play like the way we played in spurts against York today, we're a different team."
The game was expected to be tough for the Class 2A Knights going up against the Class 4A Dukes, but playing a strong team like York can only benefit ICCP in the long run.
"Our focus now moving forward is this conference (Metro Suburban) and the postseason," Fisher said.
Claire Wagner and Alia Johnson scored 11 points apiece for the Knights, with Wagner grabbing 9 rebounds.