Gassensmith’s shot lifts WW South
It was the Wheaton Warrenville South girls basketball team visiting Lake Park in nonconference action Tuesday night in Roselle. It was a night off from the rigors of conference play.
But it wasn’t a night off from the rigors of two teams badly wanting the victory at hand.
The Tigers’ Kasey Gassensmith hit a 3-point basket with just 0.4 left on the clock to give WW South a 48-45 victory over the Lancers.
It was a tough start to a tough week for WW South (16-6), which travels to Naperville North on Thursday night. The Huskies have some momentum going after beating Naperville Central on Monday. Then it’s the second cross-town game of the regular season Saturday at Wheaton North.
“There are three weeks left (in the regular season) and it does not get any easier,” WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. “This was not a conference game, but we had to look at it like one.”
With 3:13 left in the game, the Lancers’ Alexis Hahn, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit a 2-pointer to put Lake Park up 40-36.
WW South went on a 7-0 run that was capped by Annie Shain’s 3-point basket to put the Tigers up 43-40 with 1:07 remaining.
Next, Meghan Waldron and Kelly Langlas were sent to the free-throw line and each made one of their two attempts in response to Alyssa Hernandez’s putback that had cut the Tigers’ lead to one point.
Hahn wrapped up her big night with a 3-point basket that tied the game and forced WW South to call a timeout with 14.2 seconds on the clock and set up the game-winning play.
“It was a set-up play, not exclusively for Kasey. But she got the ball and she knows what to do with it,” Kroehnke said.
The first half was all Lancers (9-12). They led 12-9 after the first quarter and 23-14 at halftime. Hahn was 4 of 4 from the field in the first quarter and 5 of 9 in the first 16 minutes for 11 points.
“Alexis is one of my captains, a go-to player. She’s a tremendous team player,” Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling said. “Alyssa (Hernandez) stepped up tonight. She’s a big inside presence down low.”
WW South shot 1 of 10 in the second quarter, and Kroehnke spoke firmly to his team at halftime.
“We can’t be this flat in conference. If we do, there’s no coming back. I was disappointed with the total play in the first half. I challenged the girls at halftime and they responded.”
Lake Park jumps back into Upstate Eight Conference play Thursday night when South Elgin comes to visit.
“As we demonstrated tonight, when we play well, we can play with anybody. And Wheaton Warrenville South is a good team,” Fruehling said.