WW South too deep, strong for St. Charles East
St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said she likes taking her Saints to the Schaumburg Thanksgiving Tournament because of the quality of teams they face.
The Saints got a look at another one Thursday. Wheaton Warrenville South used a balanced scoring attack to go with a relentless effort on the glass for a 54-45 victory.
“We know where we want to be, we're a long way from it,” said WW South coach Rob Kroehnke, whose team outrebounded the Saints 49-29 and forced 26 turnovers to offset 24 of their own. “It was a great defensive effort in the first half.”
Wheaton Warrenville South (1-1) rallied from 20 points behind against Rockford Boylan Tuesday to lose by 3. The Tigers kept the momentum going Thursday, racing to a 10-0 lead to start the game thanks in large part to their full court press.
St. Charles East (0-2) turned the ball over eight times and missed their first four shots from the field until Lauren Rohrmeier ended the drought with an 18-foot jumper at the 1:46 mark.
The Saints pulled within 12-7 early in the second quarter before being plagued again by ballhandling and rebounding. The Tigers forced 9 more turnovers in the second quarter while outrebounding the Saints 30-20 in the first half to grab a 28-15 halftime lead. They also held the Saints to 3-of-17 shooting from the field.
“We're going to try to push the ball, put some pressure on people and see if we can get some buckets off turnovers,” Kroehnke said. “That's the way we want to play.”
Offensively, the Tigers spread the points around. Seven different players made a basket before freshman Maggie Dandsdill became the first WW South player with two field goals. Nine players scored in the game.
St. Charles East, with freshman Amanda Hilton and sophomore Paige Jordan among five new starters this season, looked like a different team in the second half. The Saints outscored the Tigers 16-12 in the third quarter, cutting their turnovers to four.
Rohrmeier opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. A putback basket by Chanel Stephens, free throw by Dani Asquini and Jordan's steal and layup trimmed what had been as much as a 15-point deficit to 43-39 with 5:09 remaining.
Rohrmeier's jumper answered Hannah Credille's 2 free throws to make it 45-41. The Saints didn't get closer, watching Hilton's 3-pointer rim out and failing to convert on a fastbreak before the Tigers stretched their lead at the free-throw line.
“I think second half they did a better job,” Drumtra said. “I told them it was a nice comeback. It was a game. We're going to have to continue to work on rebounding, that's our downfall. It's not that we are ever going to be taller than any team we play. It's probably not going to happen for a couple years. We have to keep working on it.
“That's what I like about this tournament. It's a tough way to start out but it really gets us ready.”
WW South sophomore Allie Zappia came off the bench to lead all scorers with 17 points. She and Dana Miller missed the first game.
The Saints used the opposite philosophy to Kroehnke's wave of substitutions, and starters Rohrmeier (14 points), Jordan (12) and Asquini (11) all played heavy minutes and reached double figures. Asquini did her best to battle the bigger Tigers on the boards with 11 rebounds and finished with a double-double. Jordan led the second-half comeback with 6 steals, and Rohrmeier and Hilton both swiped three.
“Drumtra came out and gave us a pretty good pep talk and gave us good advice on where to go and how to play them,” Jordan said. “We started making shots on offense.
“We're getting a lot of experience and everything which will help us in the long rum. Hopefully after this tournament we will have enough experience for the rest of the season.”