Willowbrook gives Glenbard East a good example

Glenbard East's goal is to turn its girls basketball program in the same direction Willowbrook's now is going.

The Warriors are within a game of the .500 mark after Tuesday's 52-17 nonconference victory at Glenbard East, and they're enjoying the improvement they're seeing after struggling for a couple of seasons.

"I feel like the program is building," Warriors coach Terry Harrell said. "We started a youth program about five years ago, and so really the group of juniors that we have this year is one of the first full groups that we've had that were in that youth program. Our freshmen have been 19-1 for the last three years. All those girls are coming up, so hopefully that keeps going and we get better."

Willowbrook looked pretty good Tuesday, scoring the game's first 13 points before Maggie Angst's 3-pointer got Glenbard East on the scoreboard.

Willowbrook (9-10) led 18-5 after one quarter, 32-14 at halftime before turning on the defense in the second half.

"We played really good defense in the second half," Harrell said. "We played OK defense in the first half. I don't know. I think maybe the girls were a little distracted because we had finals week and so they didn't really get into the defensive end until the second half."

"We shot 8 percent from the field," Rams coach Jen Ennis said. "That's pretty much the game. You can't compete in a game where you shoot that poorly. We're obviously building, and we're very young and sometimes our losses are bigger than we'd like, but ultimately our kids are learning on a very large stage lessons that other programs learn on a smaller stage."

Harrell can see in Glenbard East the problems he faced at Willowbrook.

"Yeah, I can," he said. "Because you're playing a lot of young kids and stuff and you're looking for some direction. It'll come. It just takes time. You can't do it in one year, because nobody else wants to give up a win either."

"The program has nothing but potential," Ennis said of Glenbard East (1-17). "It's just dripping with it. We're starting two freshmen and two sophomores. Some nights one junior. We have four sophomores sitting on our bench, two freshmen sitting on our bench. Our potential is unlimited. We also have a great eighth-grade class coming in."

Colleen Krawczykowski led Willowbrook with 16 points, Anita Sterling added 14 and Molly Krawczykowski 12.