Girls Basketball: Anna Bell Lansdowne’s career-high lifts York

Elmhurst, 01/21/12--Oak Park-River Forest's Stekara Hall drives toward the basket around York's Alex Harrell during Saturday's game. | Jeff Krage~for Sun-Times Media

By George M. Wilcox~gwilcox@pioneerlocal.com

Caroline Kelty’s back-to-back three-pointers ended the first half and opened the second half. York’s Anna Bell Lansdowne made sure that was the end of Oak Park-River Forest’s momentum.

Lansdowne scored the first 12 points of the second half for York on the way to a career-high 24-points Saturday in a 66-52 West Suburban Silver victory over the visiting Huskies.

York swept both games in the season series and ended OPRF’s four-game win streak. Lansdowne’s run in the third quarter gave the Dukes (10-10, 5-2) a 43-26 lead.

Lansdowne, a junior guard, shot 6-for-15 from the floor and 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. York shot 23-for-27 at the line compared to OPRF’s 14-for-24.

“With free throws, I’ve been working hard in practice,” Lansdowne said. “It does not always go for me, but this year it has paid off.”

Kelty (11 points, seven rebounds) pulled off a shocker to the end the second quarter with a half-court basket at the buzzer. York led 31-17 at the break after limiting the Huskies (9-15, 4-5) to 5-for-23 shooting in the first half, 2-for-12 in the second quarter. Until Kelty’s miracle shot, the Huskies had shot 1-for-11 in the quarter. Kelty made the first basket of the third quarter with another three in just nine seconds.

Illinois State-bound Stekara Hall (14 rebounds) led OPRF with 19 points — 12 in the first half. Hall scored 12 of OPRF’s first 14 points in the game. Jasmin Walker made a layup in the first quarter. Cuyla Hall, who is not related to Stekara, had 13 points off the bench for OPRF.

York outscored the Huskies 23-9 in the second quarter. Until Kelty’s half-court shot, Stekara Hall’s alley-oop layup was OPRF’s only basket in the second quarter. The Dukes answered with a 16-2 run to open a 27-12 lead.

“In the second quarter, I think we could have played harder, but we didn’t,” Hall said. “That’s what happens.”

Lansdowne’s previous career high was 23 points in a 72-51 victory over Hinsdale Central Dec. 10.

“We relied on our bench players coming in,” Lansdowne said. “They set the bar high and kept our energy up.”

Tawny Tucci added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Dukes. Megan Holmes scored five points in her first game since suffering a broken hand during York’s Naperville North-Benet Christmas tournament. Holmes’ sister, Molly, remains out with a broken collarbone.

“[The second quarter] was the difference in the game,” York coach Jason Reinecke said. “It was the feeling we had watching the team from the beginning of the season. We pushed the ball up the floor, shared it and get easy layups.”

York started the season with a 7-2 record, but lost six consecutive games in December.