Dominant Driscoll wins at Willowbrook

Driscoll's girls basketball team was all smiles, posing with the championship plaque of the Willowbrook Thanksgiving Tournament.

It could be a familiar picture by year's end.

Courtney Lindfors had 13 points and 9 rebounds and Shaquira Scott 10 points, as the Highlanders wrapped up an unbeaten run in Villa Park with a 53-32 win over the host Warriors on Friday.

"It was nice to come back here and win it two years in a row," Lindfors said. "This team is better this year. We have the best chemistry and work well together."

Driscoll (5-0) returns virtually its entire lineup from a team that won the school's first regional and sectional championships last year. Bigger sights could be on the horizon.

The Highlanders wasted no time putting Friday's game in the rear view mirror. A Lindfors basket ignited an 18-0 first-half run that ended with a Lindfors free throw which made it 20-5 with 5:22 left in the second quarter. Scott had a pair of scores, Lindfors a jumper, Gigi DiGrazia a 3-pointer and Kasey Reaber a steal and score during the stretch.

"We have some new personnel," Highlanders coach Steve McCuiston said, "and I think as the tournament wore on we started to gel a little bit more. Wednesday I think we turned the corner when we had a 23-1 run on St. Joseph. We started to get all on the same page."

Driscoll forced 20 Willowbrook turnovers in the first half, a recurring issue for the Warriors (1-4) this week.

"Our ballhandling right now has got to get better," Willowbrook coach Troy Nelson said. "We played three or four fast teams in a row, which is going to help us down the road, but they've taken us out of our offensive sets. We can't even run plays at times."

Taylor Reaber scored 8 points and Shaquina Scott, Shaquira's twin sister, 6. The two sophomore girls moved from Batavia to Roselle in the offseason, giving Driscoll an element last year's team lacked. Shaquira complements smaller, strong-shooting guards DiGrazia and Allie DiVito.

"Shaquira gives us length and quickness," said McCuiston, who coached Shaquina over the summer. "She gives us that added benefit, a little more size in the backcourt. When certain matchups come up we have more options."

Katie Seccombe scored 10 points and Hayley Nelson 9 for Willowbrook.