Defending 4A champ Geneva keeps rolling along

Through its first 30 games, Wheaton Warrenville South had built a reputation as a tough-minded defensive girls basketball team.

Coach Rob Kroehnke's Tigers held teams below 30 points on 15 occasions while only allowing 5 teams to top the 40-point mark.

On Thursday night, Geneva showed it can play some defense, too.

The top-seeded Vikings (28-3) held the Tigers (27-4) to just 6 baskets over the first 3 quarters while opening up a 40-17 advantage on the way to a convincing 48-31 Class 4A Lake Park sectional championship victory in Roselle.

It marked the fourth sectional title in 5 years - 7th in 10 seasons - for the defending state champion Vikings, who advance to Monday's 7 p.m. Streamwood supersectional against unbeaten and No. 2 ranked Rockford Boylan (32-0).

"It never gets old," said 5-foot-9 senior guard-forward Maddy Yelle, who helped limit Tigers leading scorer Jayla Johnson to 9 points with a strong interior performance. "This is what we have worked for. This is what we've practiced so much for and it's amazing."

"Maddy had an unbelievable game," said Vikings coach Sarah Meadows. "Even in the second half when they switched their offense a little bit and kept her (Johnson) inside, I thought Maddy did a great job.

"That's what Maddy does - that's what she wants. She wants to play defense. She loves it."

"At first, I didn't realize how strong she (Johnson) was so I had to get a few more reps in," said Yelle. "I took some elbows but it was worth it."

Defense was at a premium for both sides during the opening quarter.

Held scoreless for the first 4-plus minutes, Geneva clung to a 5-2 lead after the first quarter.

"I thought the first quarter would be slow and I thought it would be low scoring," said Meadows. "Last year when we played them (54-33 sectional semifinal win), it was the same thing until about two minutes to go in the first quarter. I liked the looks we were getting."

After Johnson's basket pulled the Tigers within 5-4 early in the second quarter, the Vikings answered with a 7-0 run that included a 3-point basket by Stephanie Hart (6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) and layup by Yelle (6 points, 7 rebounds) off a pinpoint pass from Margaret Whitley.

From there, Whitley caught fire.

The senior guard connected on three 3-pointers from nearly the identical spot on the floor to help boost the Vikings to a 23-9 halftime advantage.

Whitley continued her uncanny marksmanship in the second half as she canned three more 3-point baskets during the Vikings' 17-8 third-quarter surge.

"I thought we would have some nice open shots against that zone defense," said Meadows. "That gets her fired up. When she knocks down a few, our kids are saying, 'keep shooting, keep shooting.'"

Whitley, who at one point outscored the entire Tigers team, 18-12, finished with a game-high 24 points on 8 of 13 shooting from beyond the arc.

"We started to move the ball a little quicker and it got us more open shots," said Whitley.

Madison Mallory added 4 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for the Vikings, who made 11 of their 21 3-point attempts.

"They're a dangerous team," Kroehnke said of Geneva. "We had to play a certain way but we shot poorly and they shot really well. That's a bad combination."

MacKenzie Stebbins paced the Tigers with 14 points while Johnson added 4 steals and 4 rebounds in her high school finale.

"We had 27 wins this year," said Kroehnke. "What they've done this year was amazing and I love each and every one of them."

"This season has just been amazing," added Johnson.