Distracted W. Aurora holds on to top Wheaton Warrenville S.
Admittedly, the Blackhawks' minds may not have been fully focused on Wednesday night's girls basketball game against Wheaton Warrenville South.
Smack in the middle of finals week, West Aurora saw an 11-point fourth-quarter lead shrink to just 4 before eventually fending off the Tigers 43-36 in Wheaton.
"We're in our finals right now, so right now I knew their minds sometimes aren't here; they're back at school," Blackhawks coach Connie Siljendahl said. "I think they just got tired. I've got so many girls who are playing, and they just get worn out.
"I think we needed a pick-me-up just to hang on."
West Aurora (5-11, 2-3 DuPage Valley Conference) earned its double-digit lead thanks to a strong defensive effort. The Blackhawks held Wheaton Warrenville South to a combined 11 points in the second and third quarters, while forcing the Tigers into a 19 percent shooting night from the floor.
"We worked a lot on just getting through screens. Some of our weakness this season is just fighting through screens and getting on the weak side and anticipating where they're going to set screens," Siljendahl said. "They did a really good job of it tonight of just reading their offense."
After watching Wheaton Warrenville South pick apart the Blackhawks zone last week, West Aurora decided to switch up its defensive approach.
"We came out and were going to press them, put some pressure on the ball, and then we were going to drop back into a man defense at the 3-point line," junior forward Kiara Towles said. "We just wanted to be all over them."
According to Towles, last week's 48-41 home loss to the Tigers gave West Aurora some extra motivation.
"We couldn't let them catch up," she said. "They beat us last Thursday, and we just wanted this one really bad."
Wheaton Warrenville South (5-12, 3-3) nearly did catch up though, getting to within 40-36 on a pair of Katie Ottolin free throws with 17 seconds remaining.
Questionable shot selection helped undo the Tigers. In addition to shooting 19 percent overall from the floor, the home team connected on just 4 of its 23 attempts from behind the 3-point line.
The setback came as a disappointment to Wheaton Warrenville South coach Rob Kroehnke, whose team had won three straight heading into Wednesday.
"We've done such a good job in the last three games to take care of the ball and get better shots, and we were not making good decisions tonight," Kroehnke said. "It's just a little bump, but we'll get back on track."