Every time Archbishop Hoban silenced the home crowd at St. Vincent-St. Mary, Jordan Korinek gave the fans reason to get on their feet again.
In a game in which the Knights (14-5) just wouldn’t to go away, Korinek, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, was the constant that led the Fighting Irish to a 64-58 victory Wednesday.
And she didn’t have it easy.
Korinek was matched up against senior center Meghan Donohue, also standing at 6-2, who scored 29 points Saturday in Hoban’s 78-34 victory over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin.
She was held to 12 by the Irish (14-5).
“Last year Jordan got into foul trouble early against her and didn’t get a chance to really go against her,” St. V-M coach Joe Jakubick said. “She was really looking forward to facing such a quality player.”
The matchup was a physical one, with things getting chippy in the paint between the crosstown rivals.
“It was physical throughout the whole game,” Korinek said. “Our coaches told us before the game not to react to her physical play and hard fouls and to just keep calm and play through it.”
After a Korinek 3-pointer to kick off the game, Hoban answered with a 9-0 run and led 11-4 after the first quarter.
“I think we showed good character tonight,” Jakubick said. “We had decent looks in the first quarter but they didn’t fall and we started to panic a little bit. But I thought we responded to that well and played a good second quarter.”
Korinek scored 11 of her game-high 23 points in the second quarter and sent the Irish into the locker room leading 24-21.
Hoban answered with a 22-19 third quarter, capped off by six consecutive points and a buzzer-beating layup from senior forward Alessandra Dickos to tie the game at 43-43 heading into the final quarter.
“Dickos was a nightmare to defend tonight,” Jakubick said. “She did a tremendous job.”
Dickos led the Knights in scoring, finishing with 18 points, and had four rebounds and two steals.
“Dickos, Donohue and [senior guard Emma] Horning are three great players, and if they really get going you’re in trouble,” Jakubick said.
The fourth quarter consisted of the Irish appearing to pull away, and the Knights finding a way to get back in it. The St. V-M lead was cut to four on three separate occasions in the final three minutes.
St. V-M junior guard Kiley May was a deciding factor in the fourth quarter, going to the foul line eight times and converting six.
She finished with 12 points.
“We’re a good free-throw shooting team, I always have confidence that we can make them,” Jakubick said.
After a missed May free throw with 28.9 seconds to go, Horning grabbed the rebound and drove the length of the floor for a layup to cut the lead to 62-58.
The Irish responded after a timeout with a full-court baseball pass off the inbound to a wide-open Shannon Jack for a layup that sealed the game.
“It’s exciting,” said Korinek on winning in front of the home crowd.
“We work so hard for these type of games in practice, and it’s nice to know our hard work paid off.”
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