Downers South cools Willowbrook offense
On a night when neither team came out shooting all that well, Downers Grove South still had a big edge.
That's because the Mustangs had center Christyl Thurman making sure her team had all the extra chances it would need to knock off visiting Willowbrook 42-24 Tuesday night in Downers Grove.
The Downers Grove South post player hauled in a game-high 15 rebounds, 10 of which came on the offensive end and helped the Mustangs overcome a 6-for-23 shooting effort in the first half and still lead 16-8 at the half.
"It felt really good to get those second and third chances," said Thurman, who had 10 rebounds through two quarters. "I love going in there and getting aggressive."
The visiting Warriors (2-9, 1-3) trailed 8-0 after one quarter and shot just 3 of 19 in the first half before making a second-half charge behind the strong post play of 6-foot-1 sophomore Journey Leary, who had a team-high 10 points all in the second half and added 4 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. But it was too little, too late for a Willowbrook team that's been struggling to knock down shots on a consistent basis.
"We had a terrible first quarter," Warriors coach Terry Harrell said. "Once again we played good defense, but it's not football. You're not going to shut anyone out. You've got to hit shots."
Unfortunately for Willowbrook, just as it heated up some in the second half - closing to within 21-16 late in the third quarter - so did the Mustangs. Point guard Carly Saraceno connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the second half and Michelle Lesiak had three baskets in the fourth quarter as Downers Grove South (3-7, 3-2) broke open a tight affair with a 17-6 run in the fourth quarter.
"We played really well together and we played like a team," said Saraceno, who banked home a 3-pointer early in the fourth to give her team a 30-18 lead and added another trey for a 35-20 advantage. "We did everything we've worked on in practice: tough defense without fouling, rebounding and we were patient on offense."
Mustangs coach Mike McGinnis said he was most proud of his team's patience at the start of the game and its strong all around finish.
"Christyl did a great job on the boards for us and so did a lot of other girls," said McGinnis. "We're not going to score a whole heck of a lot of points, but today we held them to a minimum and we were real patient with the ball.
"I told the girls I was real pleased with our last couple minutes. At one point they had gotten within 5 or 6, but we kept our pace and realized what we had to do."