WW South beats Neuqua Valley in battle of DVC unbeatens

There's a long way to go before the end of the DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball season, but senior Erin Madigan and her Wheaton Warrenville South teammates could not have asked for a better start.

The Tigers won Tuesday's battle of the league unbeatens 56-47 after surviving a Myia Starks-led comeback by visiting Neuqua Valley. WW South used a hot shooting first half to surprise the Wildcats 36-22 after two quarters, then held off Neuqua Valley despite Starks recording 13 of her game-high 20 points in the second half.

"It's a huge win," said Madigan, who had 8 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers improved to 8-2 on the year and 5-0 in the DVC. "It was really fun. We made sure to keep our defense up and it makes it a lot more fun when we have such good chemistry out there."

The home team did play solid defense and rebound well, but making 12 of 18 shots in the first half, including two 3-pointers apiece from Madigan and Sarah Struebing, helped build a lead that proved to be just too much for Neuqua Valley (9-4, 3-1) to overcome.

"They shot 67 percent in the first half and not many teams do that. They outplayed us in the first half," Wildcats coach Mike Williams said. "They outrebounded us the entire game, bottom line. It's a marathon, and we'll be fine."

After Jayne LaBelle split a pair of free throws late in the third quarter, the Tigers led 42-32. But Sparks hit a short jumper that sparked a 15-8 run by the Wildcats that closed the gap to 50-47 with 2½ minutes to play. The run was capped by Starks' fourth 3 of the night and third in the second half.

But the Wildcats, who missed 9 of 18 free throws, including a couple front ends of bonus situations in the fourth quarter, got no closer. WW South closed out the win in much the same fashion that it used to build the lead: tough defense and strong rebounding.

"Breaking the press, dealing with their traps, moving the ball, we made the extra pass, and we came hot," was how Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke described his team's impressive first half. "But what I thought stuck out for me in the first half was that we played really good defense."

Starks felt the visitors were outworked in the first half before picking up its game after falling behind by 14 after two quarters.

"They came more prepared than we did. Let's just say that," Starks said. "We put ourselves in a huge whole in the beginning. The second half it was a lot better and our shots started going in, and it was just more hustle. We were excited to play. I mean we had to because we were in such a huge hole."

LaBelle and Jayla Johnson led the Tigers' balanced attack with 13 points apiece, with Struebing adding 9 and freshmen guards Maria Dohse and Mira Emma playing plenty of minutes against Neuqua's potent guard tandem of Starks and Kai Moon, who combined for 30 points.

"It feels good to know that some people thought maybe this would be another rebuilding year for us," said Madigan, in her fourth season on the varsity. "It shows that we've worked very hard for this and we've come a long way. We've improved a lot and we're having a lot of fun."