Hinsdale Central’s season ended last year against Nazareth Academy in the IHSA Class 4A state playoffs. The team was poor defensively, allowing baskets without much resistance. The energy was low around a team en route to a disappointing 11-20 record.
Fast forward to Tuesday, and the Red Devils don’t resemble the team from last season. The uninspiring defense has been replaced by a relentless ball-pressure defense. Hinsdale Central is deft at picking off passes and forcing teams into mistakes. The Red Devils play within themselves and have bought into first-year coach Brett Moore’s defense-first philosophy.
After a resounding 72-13 regional semifinals win on Wednesday against Argo to advance to the regional championship against Nazareth, the Red Devils continued their upswing in their bounce-back season. Hinsdale Central’s 23 wins are the program’s most since the 2016-17 season.
“The fact that we’ve seen all our hard work translate into wins; it’s just really cool to see and be a part of,” said senior guard Grace Dolan, who finished with 14 points and four rebounds.
The seeds for a successful season were planted on the first day of practice. Moore had retired from coaching boy’s basketball after stints at Plano and Hinsdale South for 20 years. He didn’t know what to expect, but his six-year-old daughter gave him a nudge to coach girl’s basketball.
What he found was a team of girls yearning to improve the program’s fortunes. The Red Devils have succeeded despite not adding big-time transfers. Hinsdale Central doubled down on itself and hired a coach to bring the best out of the players.
“There’s a new energy,” said junior forward Katherine Skinner, who scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds. “I remember the first day of preseason, everyone came out with high energy, wanting to buy-in and turn around this program and put it back on the map.”
One of Moore’s first decisions as head coach was implementing the ball-pressure defense. The Red Devils run a 1-2-2 halfcourt press that keeps a defender on the ball and forces defenses into long passes across the court — and the Red Devils are adept at anticipating where a pass is going and picking it off. The defense allows players to play off their instincts and create havoc.
In Wednesday’s win, the Red Devils forced more turnovers than Argo had points. Hinsdale Central held Argo scoreless until the 4:57 mark of the second quarter. The defensive rotations are seamless. Once a player lunges to contest a shot, the other four players have already shifted into their spots. For a team without much height, it’s paramount that the rotations and help defense are up to par.
“Grace has dominated in the defense,” Moore said. “I don’t know if I would say anybody was a plus-defender on their team last year, but we have seven or eight that were plus defenders this year.”
The Red Devils’ offense is still a work in progress — their defense fuels much of their offense — but that commitment to nonstop pressure has fueled the Red Devils to success.
“It just fits everyone as an individual,” Skinner said of the defensive scheme. “Our athleticism is a better fit for that kind of defense because we’re able to cover more areas, and it’s not assigned to just one player. It just gives us more freedom to play around the ball.”
At the beginning of the season, it was almost unfathomable to imagine Hinsdale Central having this type of success. Now, the Red Devils have 23 wins under their belt and a showdown with Nazareth on Thursday.
“A 23-win season was beyond what we expected,” Moore said.