Tigers find a reason to smile

Wheaton Warrenville South's girls basketball team was looking for a good victory to give it a boost of confidence.

Maybe the Tigers found that triumph Saturday night with a 50-41 decision over St. Francis in the Wheaton Shootout opener at Wheaton Academy.

If nothing else at least the Tigers (2-6) found a reason to smile again.

The Tigers struggled offensively in the first half, making just 6 of 26 field-goal attempts and trailing 21-20 at the break. Things turned around in the third quarter, however, when they made 6 of 13 shots to take a 35-29 lead, and the Tigers never trailed again.

"I was glad to see them move the ball a little bit more," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We had some better assists in the second half. I think that helped out as far as our shooting. Defensively, I thought we did a fantastic job. What we've been doing now is we've been playing good 'D' but just haven't been able to score. As soon as we start gaining confidence and shooting a little bit better, good things are going to happen and we're going to be in some games."

It was a familiar story for St. Francis (2-7).

"I'm sick of talking about the third quarter," Spartans coach Leslie Fay-Dehn said. "We missed a lot of shots all game, a lot of easy shots. They had seven 3-pointers and we had one right at the end by our post (Jamie Stefely). That was the difference in the scoring right there.

"I actually thought in the first half we played a little bit better defense than we've been playing. They hit a lot of big shots and we missed a lot of open layups. If the ball falls a little bit differently, maybe (the game) goes the other way."

Annie Shain led the Tigers with 15 points and Hannah Credille added 13.

"It was good to see Annie and Hannah step up. They had good games," Kroehnke said.

Jenny Eldridge led the Spartans with 15 points and 6 rebounds, and Stefely added 12 points.