The Kenwood Lady Broncos’ season came to an end Thursday night, February 27, after suffering a 68-51 loss to top-ranked Simeon in the 2020 IHSA State Playoffs.
Thursday’s game was the Lady Broncos’ third straight loss to the Lady Wolverines this season. “That was one of our biggest focuses, to start off strong,” said Jonathan Davenport, head coach of the Lady Wolverines. “Last time we played them, we started off real slow.”
According to Davenport, he was very happy to see his Lady Wolverines jump out to leads of 9-0, 11-1, and 15-8 to close out the first quarter.
Davenport’s trap defense forced the Lady Broncos offense into missing a series of jump-shots, multiple lay-up attempts and several key fast break opportunities that may have chang-ed the momentum of the game.
In spite of 8, first-half points by sophomore Brianna McDaniel, the Lady Broncos had no answer for the interior low post scoring of Simeon’s Aneesah Morrow and Khaniah Gardner.
Both Morrow and Gardner combined to score 20, first-half points (Morrow 10, Gardner 10), while building the Lady Wolverines a 34-25 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Lady Wolverines continued their dominance on both ends of the floor. Morrow scored 13 points, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds for the game, and Gardner added 11 points, finishing with 21 points and 11 rebounds for the game.
Kenwood’s McDaniel scored a team high 20 points, while her teammate Whitney Dunn added 14.
Final Score: Simeon 68, Kenwood 51.
The loss ended the Lady Broncos historical season. This season featured a school record 27 wins, a Regional Championship (5th time in the last seven years), CPS Championship runner-up (2nd time in three years), a 14-game winning streak, a 14-0 start (best start in school history) and finished as a first time IHSA Sectional Finalist.
Chicago Crusader Players of The Game:
Aneesah Morrow, Simeon, 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Khaniah Gardner, Simeon, 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Brianna McDaniel, Kenwood, 20 points.
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago.
