Defense is word of day for Warriors

Troy Nelson could only shake his head and look on in exasperation for most of three quarters Thursday.

At least his Willowbrook Warriors finished strong.

The Warriors held host Hinsdale South to just one point over the final six minutes in Darien to secure a 35-25 win.

"When the score is 11-7 at halftime, you can look at it one of two ways," Nelson said. "We took the positive route, that we held them to 7 points. They made up for it with their effort. They played great defense."

Taylor Nelson's 3-pointer a minute into the second quarter gave Willowbrook an 8-6 lead. The Warriors maintained the lead into the fourth quarter.

Hinsdale South sophomore Jackie Belmonte hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Hornets a 24-23 lead with 6:10 left. But on Willowbrook's next possession Angela Domin split two free throws, rebounded the miss on the second and banked in a follow shot for a 26-24 lead. Willowbrook forced 8 Hinsdale South turnovers in the fourth quarter, and a Domin 3-pointer with 2:35 left all but wrapped things up at 30-25.

"We stepped up and finished well," Domin said. "Our defense was able to stop them late."

Domin scored 12 points and Nelson 8 for Willowbrook (9-11, 5-3 West Suburban Gold), but neither were their usual hot hand from the perimeter. The Warriors guards had combined for 68 3-pointers at a 39 percent clip coming in but made just 3 of 13 on Thursday.

"I can't explain it, we've just had a couple games like this - this is probably the worst we've ever shot," coach Nelson said. "We have two really good shooters. They were just off."

Nicole Interrante added 7 points for the Warriors.

Sam Schimmel scored 7 points and freshman center Uzo Okoro added 5 points and 12 rebounds for Hinsdale South (6-12, 3-2), who recently learned that leading scorer and senior guard Kelly Payne would miss the rest of the season with a broken bone around her nose.

The Hornets outrebounded Willowbrook 32-23, played strong defense and got good shots, but a recurring issue of missed layups and 7 of 17 free-throw shooting cost the home team.

"We just have to start putting the ball in the hole," Hornets coach Steve Cochran said. "We'll be OK. We just have to keep working at it."