E.C. Hill and LaTara Jones of Whitney Young stood together in the hall outside their team`s locker room after the Dolphins` meeting with New Trier Saturday afternoon.
The imagery was fitting after what happened on Young`s home court minutes earlier. Hill scored 29 points and Jones 28 to lead No. 6 Young to an 83-37 thrashing of New Trier.
Together, the two standout seniors outscored their North Shore opponents by 20 points. The feeling was special for both.
”I`ve been working on my shooting in practice,” Jones said. ”Things really worked out well today.”
”This game was a tuneup for the playoffs,” Hill said. ”We needed a game like this.”
After beating a tough Evanston team Friday night, facing Young was something the Trevians (17-6) definitely didn`t need.
”We couldn`t stop their inside game or handle their pressure,” said New Trier coach John Schneiter. ”We were just flat today. Jones is the best inside player we`ve faced all year and E.C. might be the best player in the United States.
”We changed defenses two or three times, but they didn`t work. We just couldn`t stop them.”
After a while, it seemed silly to try. Jones, who scored four points in the first half, poured in 16 in the third quarter alone. In fact, the Dolphins` only other third-quarter points (8) went to Hill.
Young`s (19-4) linescore was 13-17-24-29, New Trier`s read 7-4-21-5. The Trevians scored their first basket with 1 minute 22 seconds left in the first quarter and didn`t hit again until 34 seconds remained in the first half.
Young was a veritable machine. After losing to No. 5 Marshall on Wednesday, the Jekyll-Hyde Dolphins played nearly flawlessly against New Trier.
”We needed this one,” said Young coach Arthur Penny. ”LaTara hasn`t been playing well lately (2 of 14 against Marshall), but this was her best game of the season.
”I thought it was going to be a closer game than this. We played very well, especially in the second half.
”Starting today, there are eight games to go to a state championship. We have to play hard the rest of the way. We`ve had too many letdowns since Christmas. I don`t know why they`re happening but, hopefully, we`re in the right direction. Maybe all the games we`ve played against good teams are starting to pay off.”
For Schneiter, there wasn`t much to do but laugh the whole thing off.
”The next time we play them, we`re never going to shoot the ball,” he said. ”We`ll just get it and try to hold it.
”We`ve never beaten them here (in three tries), but they`ve never beaten us at New Trier (in two meetings). At least we play in our place next year.”
