Willowbrook has no answer for Hornets' Giampoli

Hinsdale South coach Brenda Whitesell was thrilled when Joanna Giampoli decided to play basketball this season.

On Tuesday you could see why.

While Giampoli is still getting into the swing of things after a two-year layoff from the sport, she's plenty good right now. The 6-foot-1 senior center came off the bench to supply team highs of 13 points and 15 rebounds to power the host Hornets past West Suburban Gold rival Willowbrook 42-34 in Darien.

"She makes us a lot better," Whitesell said. "And she's just now starting to get the rust off."

An all-area volleyball player who plans to walk on at Iowa, Giampoli couldn't resist returning to basketball for her final year of high school.

"I missed it," Giampoli said. "I really wanted to help the team out this year."

Giampoli gave Willowbrook (5-4, 1-1) plenty of trouble inside with her height and muscle. Senior forward Chloe Harris, who battled problems with her contact lenses, finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds to help Hinsdale South (6-3, 3-0) control the area around the basket.

"I had scouted them and I knew that we really had to work it inside because their guards are so scrappy and they cover up the perimeter," Whitesell said.

Willowbrook senior guard Collette Williams scored a game-high 16 points.

As a team, though, the Warriors suffered through a rough shooting night. They went 3 for 18 from 3-point territory and shot just 22 percent from the field.

Willowbrook coach Troy Nelson has watched his club struggle shooting lately.

"We can't even beat bad teams shooting 3 for 18 from the 3-point line," Nelson said. "We started off great shooting the ball (this season), but then had a couple bad shooting games and we can't get it out of our heads for some reason."

While the Warriors made just 1 of 11 attempts from the field and committed 7 turnovers in the second quarter, Hinsdale South put together a 14-5 run to take a 24-17 lead into halftime.

Willowbrook pulled within 28-27 on Ashley Kanelos' 3-pointer with 3:11 left in the third quarter, but the Hornets replied with a 9-1 run to go up 37-28 early in the fourth.

"I was happy that when they got close we still had the mental toughness to extend (the lead)," Whitesell said.