BERWYN — Gennifer Simpson may be one year older than Sydney Kopp, but the Hinsdale South guards have become best of friends.
Simpson and Kopp visit each other’s house and regularly have lunches together at Willowbrook Town Centre.
They were backcourt partners Monday in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4A Morton Regional. The Hornets, a No. 15 seed, defeated 19th-seeded Curie 66-39 to advance to a third meeting against West Suburban Gold champion Proviso East at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The third-seeded Pirates won both earlier games against Hinsdale South (15-14) by 10 points.
“They work well together,” first-year Hinsdale South coach Brett Love said. “We split them up in practice. We try to make it a challenge by (pairing) them off at the same time. Gen challenges Syd and Syd challenges Gen.”
Kopp led the Hornets with 21 points as all eight Hinsdale South players scored against the Condors (13-5). Simpson scored all eight of her points in the first half to help the Hornets jump out to a 22-4 lead in the first quarter.
The junior Kopp has been the Hornets’ leading scorer this season and had a career-high 30 points against Morton and 29 points against Downers South a week later.
Simpson, a senior, scored a personal-best 26 points in a win over West Chicago Feb. 10 on senior night. Generously listed as 5-6 on the Hornets’ roster, she is attracting interest from Division III schools such as Aurora.
The Simpson-Kopp combination has been a potent offensive combination at the end the season. They each scored in double figures in the Hornets’ last four regular-season games.
“Sydney is my right-hand man,” Simpson said. “I will always be grateful for her. I’m always there for her and I know it’s vice versa. We work well together and help each other.”
Love has relied on Simpson as a senior leader. Forward Taylor Barnes is the only other senior starter, while classmates Astrid Vargas and Abby Lewis come off the bench.
“I like her work ethic,” Love said of Simpson. “I will always remember her love of the game. She loves basketball.”
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