Something seemed awry as senior point guard Gina Dutkanych exited Aurora Central Catholic’s locker room, her hands cradling an ice pack instead of the usual basketball.
Then again, maybe not.
An instigator all night long for the Chargers, the 5-foot-3 Dutkanych finally took in the scene around her before reaching up to softly rub a growing lump on her forehead, reddened by the ice.
Had she taken an elbow?
“I skinned my forehead — I don’t know,” she said with a smile. “I hit my head a lot.
“I’m always running the floor, running all the plays to get people wide open looks or get the ball to them when they’re posting up because we have two bigs who can get the ball to the basket.”
Handed the keys to the offense by ACC coach LeVada Smith because of her ability to drive the ball to the basket, Dutkanych continues to do her job well.
She scored 14 points and also dished out five assists Wednesday night in helping to lead ACC to a 59-50 win over Hinsdale South in a Class 3A De La Salle Sectional semifinal in Chicago.
Those bigs — 6-foot junior forward Sofia Orozco and 5-9 senior forward Ashley Watter
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— did their jobs well too by scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively, as the second-seeded Chargers (22-10) advanced to the 6:30 pm. Thursday sectional final against top-seeded Glenbard South (28-4), which slipped by the host Meteors 47-41 in the other semifinal.Maeve Savage, a 5-10 senior forward and four-year varsity player, led Hinsdale South (18-10) with 16 points. The Hornets heavily rely on their five starters and the 3-pointer.
Hinsdale South’s lone substitution in the game before the final minute came when a starter was shaken up and left the floor for a short time.
“I’ve seen so much tape and they don’t really sub much,” Smith said. “(Savage) doesn’t come off the floor. If we got transition going and push tempo a little bit, I thought we could get them tired.
“Even on offense, we needed to keep moving and dump the ball down to Sofia. I think it was a mismatch. At 6-foot, she’s good around the basket. I kept that in my back pocket if we needed some buckets.”
It worked to perfection as Orozco scored nine of her points in the fourth quarter.
Dutkanych triggered the action along with hustling junior guard Annalyse McCarty and junior forward Nora Schwartz chipping in.
“I tell Gina she needs to try to make at least four layups,” Smith said. “That was her goal — to put pressure on.”
Dutkanych made two of her three layups in the first quarter when ACC took a 20-15 lead.
“I like driving,” said Dutkanych, who added a pair of 3-pointers in the second half. “That’s what I usually do best.”
ACC never trailed in the game but led just 41-39 after three quarterss as the Hornets would force a 39-39 tie.
Hinsdale South stayed close by converting 10 of 30 from beyond the arc before Orozco took charge in the fourth, shooting 7 of 8 from the free-throw line by attack the basket to draw fouls.
It’s the Chargers’ first sectional victory since the 2011-2012 team finished fourth in state. Two regional champions under Smith lost sectional semifinals in 2022 and 2023.
“We usually share the ball, and in this game, I think we had a lot of teamwork,” Orozco said. “We looked for each other a lot and Gina makes it easy. She gives us a flow.”
Dutkanych confirmed it was really special after falling short in the regional the past two years.
“The model is, basically, sacrifice for one another,” Smith said. “This is the playoffs. Are you willing to make the extra pass, take a charge, dive on the floor? If you want to win, that’s how you do it.”
Dutkanych buys in.
“Gina doesn’t care about getting into traffic, doesn’t shy away from contact,” Smith said. “She’s probably the most competitive player on the team. She wears it on her sleeve.
“She’s the energizer bunny. She does not get tired out there.”