Top-ranked Young buries Bogan for crown
By Drake Skleba
The Lady Dolphins of Young, to a lady, did not feel they played up to their potential in their CPL tournament semifinal victory over Morgan Park Tuesday.
On Thursday night at McGrath Arena on the De Paul campus, the defending Chicago Public League champions played up to their ability and crushed Bogan 73-38. The championship was the second consecutive and fifth in six years for the Lady Dolphins.
Young was once again led by junior Kiana Johnson who scored 16 points with six rebounds and four steals. Freshman Linnae Harper added 13 points and hauled in nine rebounds. She picked up three key steals at the beginning of the second quarter.
Long-range assassin Johnson nailed four three-point bombs and scored 14 first-quarter points as the Lady Dolphins opened up a quick 19-7 lead after one quarter.
"I was really excited before this championship game," said Johnson. "Bogan left me open the entire first quarter and I just nailed the open looks. I had to do something big to get us off to a good start. It felt really good to knock those shots down and get us a big early lead.
"This championship feels great! We really played our game today. We all played really well tonight."
Harper scored seven points and had her three steals in the first two minutes of the second quarter. Tuesday's heroine Victoria Thompson (six points on two treys) contributed a three in a 13-0 Lady Dolphin run. Young scored the last three points of the first quarter and opened the second quarter with 10 consecutive points to open up a 29-7 lead with 5:26 left in the first half.
"It was a close game and I was able to get us a big lead in the first couple minutes of the second quarter," said Harper. "We played very good defense and I boxed out well on my rebounding.
"We are the best conditioned team in the state and we felt that our full-court pressure defense would cause them trouble."
Young (22-0) forced 13 Bogan turnovers in the vital second stanza. The Lady Dolphins forced 28 turnovers for the game. On Tuesday Young forced 36 Morgan Park mistakes.
Junior Bryeasha Blair (16 points, four rebounds) joined the party with eight points in the second quarter as the Lady Dolphin lead increased to 40-11 with 1:35 left in the half. Young took a 42-16 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter was highlighted by an amazing 35-foot bounce pass from one of Tuesday's heroines Janee Thompson (seven points, three steals, assist) to Blair for a layup that gave Young a 61-26 lead with one minute left in the third quarter.
Young head coach Corry Irvin cleared the bench in the fourth quarter while the Lady Dolphins rolled.
"Kiana really was huge tonight for us," said Irvin. "She really shoots well and it was important for us to get off to such a great start. Linnae had a huge second quarter for us. She really did the things that we want her to do for us.
She scored and rebounded very well tonight.
"Overall our defense did what we expected to do and did a good job. It's rewarding to win our second consecutive title. Now we have to get up tomorrow morning and head out to California and play two of their top teams."
Young will arise at 5 a.m. Friday morning and fly to the West Coast. The Lady Dolphins opponents are two of California's top squads. They will meet No. 1-ranked Mater Dei (23-1) of Santa Ana Friday, and Long Beach Poly (19-2) Saturday.
According to MaxPreps, the Monarchs of Mater Dei are ranked third in the country. Long Beach Poly is ranked fourth. Young is listed sixth. Fellow local power Bolingbrook is ranked seventh.
No. 12 Bogan was led by senior forward Lynette Holmes, who scored 10 points and hauled in eight rebounds.
The Lady Bengals closed out a super regular season with a 22-7 record. Kudos go to Bogan head coach Gary Bell for bringing his team to its second consecutive Chicago Public League championship game. The Lady Bengals fell last year to Young 55-38.
