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Defense jump starts Wheaton Academy against Fenton

Wheaton Academy is enjoying the start to this girls basketball season.

The Warriors remained undefeated with a 54-26 Metro Suburban West triumph over visiting Fenton on Saturday night.

"It's really nice," Warriors coach Beth Mitchell said. "We've been playing really well."

"We're really getting closer and staying together, and we always are up for each game and pumping each other up," added junior guard Emily Renn.

The Warriors (8-0, 3-0) hope they can sustain the good start and turn it into a league title.

"There's obviously a lot of good competition in our conference," Mitchell said. "We feel pretty good about where we are right now, but every day is a new day."

Fenton took the lead twice early in the game, but Wheaton Academy scored the final 16 points of the first quarter and never looked back. Defense keyed the Warriors' run. They forced 14 Fenton turnovers in the first quarter, 30 for the game.

"A big part of it was our defense," Mitchell said. We've been doing a great job defensively. We've played all man-to-man and I think we've been able to turn our defense into offense. And we've been able to distribute the ball. We've got more people scoring and contributing offensively."

That showed against Fenton. Renn came off the bench to lead the Warriors with a personal-best 16 points. Senior guard Liana Ledesma added 11, and junior forward Meredith Bult scored 10.

"When I came in I just wanted to bring in energy," Renn said.

"She's a good little guard," Mitchell added about Renn. "She's kind of a sparkplug for us. She comes off the bench as that sixth man. If we could start six kids she would be a starter, obviously. But she does some good things for us. She's a real versatile player. She's a smart kid, understands the game."

At the other end of the spectrum, Fenton (0-7, 0-3) has had a difficult start.

"We're struggling to put the ball in the basket," Bison coach Tim Anderson said. "Part of it starts with shot selection. In all of our games we got down early, and they're shooting the ball trying to make a 6-point play."

Senior Courtney Susmarski led the Bison with 8 points.

"It's one thing at a time with us. One thing at a time and I saw some really good things," Anderson said.

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz

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