LW-East's 'T' hits three(s)

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LOCKPORT -- The plan was to limit the all-stater's scoring opportunities.

And, for much of the night, the Lockport High School girls basketball team succeeded in keeping the ball out of the hands of Lincoln-Way East's Kersten Magrum.

The Porters used a box-and-one zone and collapsed their defense around Magrum and the Griffins' 6-foot-2 Amanda West in the early going of Tuesday's Southwest Suburban Conference crossover at Lockport's Central Campus gym.

The plan only backfired because Lincoln-Way East's Theresa Tynski shot holes in Lockport's strategy. Tynski sank four 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the Griffins' 59-45 victory. She would have had a fifth 3 except East coach Jim Martin called timeout from in front of the Griffins' bench a split second before Tynski launched a missile from the right wing with 1 minute 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

The timeout drew an are-you-kidding-me look from Tynski.

"No, I didn't know what was going on," she said. "I mean, I heard him kind of from the background. And I was like, 'Oh, OK. Well, I'll just get another one. That's all right.' "

Sure enough, Tynski drained a left-wing 3-pointer with less than 1 second left to extend East's lead to 15-3 heading into the second quarter.

The Griffins (14-2) went on to build their lead to 26-5 and 28-7 in the second quarter and then let off the gas peddle as Lockport battled back in the second half.

"Well, that was just one of those shots that you get once in a season," Tynski said.

Her outside shooting eventually opened up the middle for Magrum, the University of Illinois recruit who led all scorers with 17 points. Magrum made 5-of-9 shots in the second half and put 13 of her 17 on the board after the Porters were forced to play a more honest defense.

Meghan Barney led Lockport (5-11) with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. Kacie Cassidy scored six of her eight points in the fourth quarter. Alyssa Garcia and Amber Surdokaite each finished with seven points.

The Griffins made 22-of-48 shots (45.8 percent), including eight 3-pointers. Nellie Kosola made two 3s and scored eight points. Allie Breakey also had two 3s and six points.

"Well, we wanted to take away their inside game, and I thought we did a good job limiting Magrum's touches and her second-shot opportunities," Lockport coach Krista Peterson said. "She's always tough on the boards. But it's just that our guards, when