West Chicago does it again
West Chicago is a classic pick-your-poison team.
Game plan for one girl and the Wildcats will lean in another direction. Different kids make plays at different times.
That balance has served the Wildcats well this season, and it has them in the championship of the Oswego East Winter Classic for the second straight season after a 44-33 win over Downers Grove South on Wednesday.
“We definitely have five people that can shoot and score,” West Chicago's Allie Tapanes said. “We try to feed the hottest person out there. Everybody on the floor can score. Teams don't know who to guard.”
West Chicago snapped Downers Grove South's six-game winning streak, and in doing so beat the Mustangs (10-4) for the second time this season. West Chicago won 43-30 at the Lyons Twp. Tournament in November.
Wildcats coach Kim Wallner knew to expect adjustments from fellow wily veteran Ellen O'Brien of Downers Grove South. Her girls responded.
“I'm not saying it was a perfect game or that we played our greatest game,” Wallner said, “but it was a good game because we made adjustments. They bottled up Mary (Connolly) a little bit. I knew she'd come out with something, with box-and-one or triangle-and-two they kind of played man-to-man on Allie (Tapanes) and Claire (Monroe) and my other kids stepped up.”
Top seed and defending tournament champion West Chicago (12-2) will play Andrew at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the tournament final.
“They're very physical and very aggressive,” Wallner said of Andrew. “It should be entertaining.”
Tapanes has shown the ability to score in bunches this season and did so Wednesday. The junior guard hit three 3-pointers and scored all 13 of her points in the first half. Tapanes' third trifecta pushed West Chicago ahead 21-13 with 47 seconds left in the half.
Backcourt mate Monroe beat the clock with a 3-pointer to end the half with West Chicago ahead 24-13. Monroe, who scored 9 points, also hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter to stem a Downers Grove South comeback.
“Big break in momentum,” said O'Brien, whose team trailed 33-23 after the Monroe 3-pointer. “If we could have been down by 5 or 7 going into the fourth quarter I thought we had a chance. Down 10, that changes things.”
Kelsey Myers added 8 points for West Chicago, including a back-breaking 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter.
Carly Saraceno paced Downers Grove South with 13 points, despite playing with a head injury suffered earlier in the week. The Mustangs also continued to be without double-digit scorer Allison Dec, who has missed the last three-plus weeks with a back injury.
The Mustangs didn't help their cause any at the free throw line, going 0 of 9 over the first three quarters. This from a team that came in shooting over 60 percent. Christyl Thurman added 7 points and 10 rebounds for Downers Grove South.
“Free throws killed us,” O'Brien said. “We hit those it's a different game.”