Addison Trail makes lead stand up vs. Willowbrook

With the defensive effort it put forth Tuesday night, it's no surprise that the Addison Trail girls basketball team is off to a strong start in the West Suburban Gold.

Holding visiting Willowbrook to a pair of field goals during the middle two quarters, the Blazers built a nice lead before holding on for dear life in an eventual 44-40 victory in Addison.

With the win, which came in the squad's third game in the past four days, Addison Trail improved to 3-1 in league play and 6-4 overall.

"We worked hard in the off-season," said senior forward Jasmin Mehmeti, who had 12 points and 7 rebounds. We have five or six seniors back and a lot of experience on our team, and we use that to our advantage."

Trailing 7-6 after the opening eight minutes, the Blazers went on a 16-11 second-quarter run, spurred on by six points from Mehmeti.

Leading 22-18 at halftime, the home team added on to that margin with a 10-3 spurt after halftime and saw their lead swell to as many as 12 early in the fourth quarter.

But the young Warriors, who played only one senior and a pair of juniors, picked up the pressure and cut into the deficit. Forcing 18 turnovers after halftime, Willowbrook (2-8, 1-3) pulled within 43-40 on a basket by Shannon Knudtson with one minute left.

They then had a couple of opportunities to tie before a free throw with under five seconds accounted for the final margin.

Hanna Konrath finished with 12 points, CeCe Lizasuain had 9 points and Katelyn McCann and Knudtson had 8 apiece. Knudtson added 4 steals and Maureen Schmid tallied 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

"It was a great comeback," Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell said. "The girls really focused and ran the press well. We were able to use what we have and we have speed. But we dug ourselves a hole and we dug ourselves a hole because we shot 16 percent in the first half. We just missed way too many shots that you can't afford to miss in a game."

Vincenza Zaccaro scored 7 points for the Blazers, while Marie Baumgartner, Diamond Pikulyk and Nicolette Scorza had 6 each.

"Having multiple girls coming back, we expect to be balanced in scoring," said Addison Trail coach Rob Schader, who believed this was only the second time in the past 11 years that the Blazers have started off 3-1 in conference. "We came out and played very well in the third quarter. The last two or three minutes, we got sloppy. But I'll take it. This means we will go into Christmas break above .500."