WW South blows past West Aurora
Wheaton Warrenville South likes to run. And run. And run.
The Tigers ran right past West Aurora 63-41 Thursday night in Wheaton, slowing only briefly on their way to their first DuPage Valley Conference girls basketball win of the young season.
“This team is so selfless,” senior Kasey Gassensmith said. “We get the ball up there and score easily. We’re a fast team. Those fastbreaks are really easy for us.”
Gassensmith scored a game-high 21 points, many of them off assists from sophomore guard Meghan Waldron, who did a little of everything. Waldron complemented her 16 points with 11 rebounds and just missed a triple-double with 9 assists. She also had 5 steals.
“She’s able to get everybody involved,” WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. “She likes to get everybody involved.”
“It’s a team effort,” Waldron said. “We all have our little weapons.”
It meant for a long night for the Blackhawks (3-4, 0-1), who turned the ball over 29 times.
“Their arms are so long,” West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. “They just get to everything. And we just got caught standing too much. I think they were just in awe of how fast this team was, and we struggled. It was just a struggle for us tonight.”
Sophomore Liz Skaggs led West Aurora with 14 points, and freshman Alexis Wiggins added 9 off the bench. Sophomore Maggie Dansdill added 10 points for WW South (6-0, 1-0).
WW South scored the game’s first nine points before Abriya Zeitz hit a 3-pointer at the four-minute mark. The lead hit 18 points in the first half before West Aurora trimmed it to 11 at halftime.
“At halftime I didn’t know what to tell them offensively,” said Kroehnke, whose team made 50 percent of its shots for the game. “We were doing exactly what we wanted to do. We got a little tired, went through a bad stretch defensively in the second quarter. But a good response in the third quarter. I think it took them about five minutes to score. Good effort defensively.”
The Tigers picked up the pace again in the third quarter, and a putback by freshman Olivia Linebarger gave them a 44-24 lead with 5:05 left in the period.
“We didn’t rebound well at all,” Siljendahl added. “We knew exactly what they were going to do. They’re a great team. I mean, they’re just an awesome team. I think they shot 90 percent.
“The key was just rebounding. We couldn’t get ourselves in position and they’re off and running. There wasn’t much else we could do after that. We just got caught standing. The fast pace was tough for us, and I think we’re fast. I just tip my hat to them. I think they’re a great team.”