WW South stops skid against York
If waiting through a winless week felt anything like purgatory to Wheaton Warrenville South, the Tigers found their seventh heaven Friday.
The Tigers halted a three-game losing streak - and eclipsed last year's six-game win total - by rallying past York 39-28 in Lisle at the Naperville North/Benet Holiday Tournament.
"There was a little pause in between the (wins)," WW South senior Caitlin Schwark said, "but it's nice to get it done. We want to keep going with it."
WW South (7-4) reversed a recent trend in getting back in the win column. The Tigers couldn't hold a 9-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to Wheaton Academy, and a 4-point halftime lead on Geneva didn't stand up.
Against York the Tigers trailed 25-23 heading into the fourth quarter, Evan Semmelhack hitting a 3-pointer for the Dukes in the final seconds of the third. But WW South outscored York 16-3 over the game's last eight minutes.
"We've played three very good teams the last week and played them well," Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We've proved that we can play with people, we just haven't been able to finish. Tonight we finished. That's a big confidence-booster."
A Schwark putback tied it at 25-25 and a pair of Hannah Credille free throws pushed WW South ahead with 5:59 left. A Credille steal on York's next trip led to an Annie Shain 3-pointer, making it 30-25.
York, held below 40 points for only the second time all season, managed just a Mary Colon free throw in the fourth quarter until a Semmelhack score with two seconds left.
WW South, which at times substituted four players at a time a la a hockey line change to press and trap, pulled back into its more standard matchup zone down the stretch.
"We felt that we needed to put some pressure on them," Kroehnke said, "but when it got to the fourth quarter and we got a 4- to 6-point lead we went back to our regular defense just to make sure we could cover people.
"That was sort of our game plan. We were going to press and trap and play everybody, and then hopefully in the fourth quarter we'd be in the position to control the tempo."
Heidi Ansiel scored 13 points and Schwark had 11 points and 8 rebounds for WW South.
Semmelhack scored 12 points and Colon 8 to pace York (5-6). The Dukes have lost five of six since a 4-1 start and get No. 2-ranked Geneva tonight.
"(WW South) did a nice job tightening up their defense," York coach Jason Reinecke said, "and we gave up a lot of second-chance opportunities.
"Nobody likes to lose three games in a week. We started off the season so well and we're going through a rough stretch right now. We just have to keep battling. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us."