WW South pulls out overtime victory

St. Charles East made up an 11-point deficit in the final 1:12 of regulation before Wheaton Warrenville South outscored the Saints 6-0 in overtime for a 42-36 victory at the Schaumburg Thanksgiving tournament.

"In our game against Lane Tech, the same thing happened," said Wheaton Warrenville South senior guard Madeline Close, who scored the Tigers' first 3 points in overtime. "We had a big lead, let it get away from us and then came back and won. We've kind of gotten in that habit and we've got to learn to leep our cool in the final two minutes."

Sarah Langlas kept her cool throughout as the senior struck for a game-high 21 points, including a free throw in the overtime for the Tigers (2-2).

Taylor Nieling's only 2 points came in the overtime on a pair of free throws.

"I don't think we were nervous going into overtime," added Close, whose steal with six seconds left sealed the win. "We knew we just had to stay focused and we did a great job of keeping each other focused.

"I missed a free throw at the end of regulation that could have made the difference. I could not have done what I did without my teammates."

Lexi Baltes led St. Charles East (1-3) with 10 points while Tara Sigona added 8 and Natasha Lalos 6.

"I though Tara did a nice job going to the basket in the third quarter," said St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra. "We just had too many turnovers in overtime. I wish we could've kept things going like they were at the end of regulation. But we're young and our youth showed up."

Lalos hit two 3-pointer and Baltes had 1 during the 11-0 run that ended the game.

"Natasha struggled all night with her shots but then hit the two big 3s which was nice," Drumtra said.

Wheaton Warrenville South also received 7 points from freshman Hannah Credille.

"We did some good things," said Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke. "We've just got to be more consistent."