WW South edges Glenbard South
Wheaton Warrenville South’s good fortune was Glenbard South’s frustration.
The visiting Tigers went home with a 44-43 nonconference victory Tuesday in Glen Ellyn despite trailing by 4 points with 18.5 seconds to play.
“They’re a load,” Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke said of the Raiders. “They are a load. They can hurt you outside, they can hurt you inside. We were very fortunate at the end of the game to pull it off, that’s for sure.”
It was fitting the game came down to the final seconds, considering the lead ping-ponged back and forth from the start. Neither team led by more than 4 points, with the Raiders reaching that number on Patrice Hicks’ free throw.
The Raiders then fouled Tigers freshman Meghan Waldron with 16.6 seconds to go, and her free throw cut the lead to 3. A Raiders turnover gave WW South the ball back. The Tigers went looking for a 3-pointer, but with the lane wide open Waldron drove for a layup to bring the margin to 1 point with 4.4 seconds to go.
“You’ve got a freshman out on the floor,” Kroehnke said. “You’ve got to expect good things and you’ve got to expect bad things. And we’re working on situations, and the only way they’re going to get the feel of it is to be in those situations. You can’t do this in practice. You cannot make that situation up in practice.”
After a timeout the Raiders (13-3) were called for a foul trying to free a player to catch the inbounds pass, putting Waldron back at the free-throw line.
“I was pretty surprised,” Waldron said of the foul call. “I didn’t know if it was on me.”
“In my opinion you’ve got to let the kids decide it, bottom line,” Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. “You don’t make that call in the last few seconds of the game. You let the kids decide the game because that’s what it’s about. It’s not about me, not about the refs, it’s about the kids.
“It’s pretty annoying that that’s how the game ended because my kids battled back in the second half. Wheaton South’s a great team, and I think we played them toe-to-toe and did what we intended to do and just came up short, I guess.”
The freshman made both free throws, giving the Tigers (10-5) the lead for good. Glenbard South’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer hit only backboard.
“That’s awful big for a freshman to step up and hit something like that,” Kroehnke said of Waldron’s free throws. “She sort of saved herself there.”
“Mr. Kroehnke said it’s all mental, so you’ve just got to relax,” Waldron said.
The Class 3A Raiders saw no moral victory in nearly knocking off a very good 4A team.
“You can try to sell that to our kids, but that’s not what it’s about to them at all,” Fonda said. “We’re about playing whoever is in front of us and doing our best to win ballgames, and I thought in the second half we did do that. Unfortunately, that game was taken away from us.”
Raiders senior center Nevena Markovic led all scorers with 15 points, to go with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Many of Markovic’s assists were to Hicks, who scored 13 points and had 7 rebounds.
Waldron’s 11 points led the Tigers.
“Hey, we’re taking it,” Kroehnke said. “Glenbard South is a very good team, a very good team. We’re lucky to get out of here tonight.”