Holmes, Bogan top Von Steuben
By Drake Skleba
In the Chicago Public League tournament's first semifinal, No. 12 Bogan bested No. 13 Von Steuben 45-41. Bogan's 5-foot-11 senior forward Lynette Holmes led the Lady Bengals with 23 points, 14 in the second half. With the win, Bogan (22-6) advances to the championship game versus No. 1 Young (21-0) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at DePaul.
Holmes was saddled with three fouls in the first half, and was controlled by Von Steuben's 6-foot-2 center Shonte Clay (12 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots).
"Shonte (Clay) had been a problem for me inside. She was really talking, which really fired me up," said Holmes. "I really started to play well in the second half."
Von Steuben, led by 11 points and six rebounds from Clay, held a 25-19 advantage at the half. Holmes recorded nine points and six rebounds before intermission.
Bogan's 5-foot-2 junior guard Jalessa Armstrong added eight first-half points.
Holmes scored eight of the Lady Bengals' 10 third-quarter points to close within 33-29 after three quarters. Von Steuben picked up five points in the quarter from sophomore guard Amber Johnson (14 points, five rebounds).
With 4:23 left in the fourth quarter, Holmes' jumper tied the game at 33. Clay scored her only point of the second half on a free throw to give Von Steuben their last lead of the night at 34-33 with 4:06 left.
Bogan's 5-foot-10 senior Brittany Cochran (six points, 12 rebounds) scored on a feed from Armstrong to give the Lady Bengals their first lead since the first quarter, a 35-34 edge with 3:35 left.
Armstrong (12 points, five assists, five steals) and junior guard Iesha Collins each nailed a pair of free throws to extend the Bogan lead to 39-34 with 1:40 left in the game.
Von Steuben did not quit.
Laterria Taylor (11 points) hit two free throws to bring the Panthers within 39-36 with 1:29 left.
Cochran nailed another jumper for Bogan, but Von Steuben's Johnson answered with a 22-foot bomb to close the gap to 41-39.
With 40 seconds left Bogan's Armstrong dropped in a couple of clutch free throws. Taylor once again scored for Von Steuben to cut the deficit to 43-41 with 27.7 seconds.
With 11 seconds left, Armstrong stole the ball and fired a pass to a wide-open Holmes, whose easy layup closed out the scoring in an outstanding Chicago Public League semifinal contest.
"I want to thank my teammates for this great victory," said Armstrong. "I played well, but my teammates made the plays to help us win the game."
Von Steuben closed out a spectacular regular-season with a 21-4 record. The Panthers move on to the IHSA Class 4A Niles North sectional next.
"This was a great come-from-behind victory for us," said Bogan head coach Gary Bell. "My seniors Lynette Holmes, Jalessa Armstrong and Brittany Cochran, all were outstanding in the second half. We are looking forward to playing Whitney Young again in the championship game."
The Lady Bengals will be out for revenge. Young defeated Bogan 55-38 in the 2009 Chicago Public League championship game.
In sophomore action, Bogan captured the Chicago Public League championship with a 40-33 win over Morgan Park.
