WW South finishes strong, tops Schaumburg

When Schaumburg senior guard Taylor Kosla swished her third 3-pointer of the game, the Saxons pulled to within 34-30 of Wheaton Warrenville South late in the third quarter.

But the Tigers, who led almost the whole game, were ready for the challenge.

"We just had to refocus and get it together," said Tigers senior guard Destiny Neal, whose team had led by as many as 11 points early in the second half. "That's one of the things we've been focusing on in practice. We struggled with the finish of games last season."

The Tigers sure didn't Tuesday as they outscored the Saxons 19-9 the rest of the way to post a 53-39 triumph in the fourth-round game of the Schaumburg Thanksgiving girls basketball tournament.

"Everyone played well and we finished well in the fourth quarter," said Wheaton coach Rob Kroehnke. "Our defense kept us in a good position. We had too many fouls and put ourselves in a bad situation that way.

"We put them to the line too much. But we finished the game well. That's the way we want to finish."

The Tigers (3-1) had three players score in double figures, led by Annie Shain (13 points), Neal (12) and Heidi Ansiel (10).

All of Shain's buckets were 3-pointers (4), including three in the first half. Her fourth one gave the Tigers a 33-22 lead early in the third quarter.

Neal also led her team with 10 rebounds while Katie Ottolin (6-of-6 free throws in the final minute) and Krysta Watts each had 9. Cailtin Schwark handed out 4 assists.

Kosla's 11 points led Schaumburg (1-3) while junior Jennifer Pomagier added 8 and sophomore Alyssa Saklak 7.

Pomagier was 6-of-8 at the free throw line.

"She's a real work horse," said Berggren of the 5-foot-8 guard who has twice torn her ACL over the last two tears. "She is going to do all the little things for you."

Saklak picked up 3 fouls in the first half and her fourth midway through the third quarter so first-year coach Ashley Berggren wasn't able to get a full 32 minutes from the 5-foot-10 forward.

"With only nine players, we can't afford to have players in foul trouble," Berggren said. "We really played better team defense this game. Now it's just a matter of building the offense so we can have a complete game.

"We are working on developing team chemistry. I think it starts on the defensive end and that's an area where we did better."