Wheaton Warrenville South alone atop DVC
The only thing the Wheaton Warrenville South girls basketball team is sharing these days is the basketball.
The Tigers claimed their second consecutive outright DuPage Valley Conference crown by defeating Naperville Central 71-51 Wednesday night in Wheaton. A quick-passing offense and the usual tough defense carried the hosts to their 25th win of the season and gave them four straight DVC titles.
"We really wanted to win the conference. It was a big goal for this season," said senior Erin Zappia, who had 10 points and 5 rebounds in the win. "We worked really hard. Even though we lost the one game we pulled through at the end and we did what we had to do."
These Tigers may have lost one conference game this season - to Wheaton North - but they are 12-1 in the league heading into Thursday night's regular-season finale against Glenbard East. The program has gone 104-18 over the last four years and an amazing 51-4 in the DVC.
"It's real exciting," said four-year varsity player Maggie Dansdill, who notched 12 points and 3 assists in the win over the Redhawks. "It doesn't come around very often. When you get a chance to do it it's really great."
Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum, whose team shared the first two of the Tigers' four straight DVC titles, was very impressed with the hosts. His Redhawks (11-17, 6-7) trailed just 8-6 following a basket by Haley Minick, but then in what seemed like a blink of an eye, it was 20-6 after one quarter.
"They are pretty much unselfish to a fault," said Nussbaum, commenting on how well WW South shared the ball. "Man, coaching-wise what else you want? That's pretty close to the top. They're big, they're quick and they're unselfish to a fault."
Tigers star Meghan Waldron led the way with 25 points, but she and Melinda Franke each also had 6 assists as the DVC champ came away with 20 assists on the night.
"We've tried all different sorts of zones and they cut hard to the paint," said Nussbaum, whose team trailed 39-20 at the half after WW South shot a blazing 18 of 27 through two quarters. "They cut for the paint. We didn't defend it very well, but they make it hard to defend."
While Waldron was putting herself in position to become the school's all-time leading scorer - a feat she could accomplish Thursday - she also grabbed 14 rebounds and was just one of four Tigers to score in double figures.
"It's pretty fun to watch these guys," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We've been executing real well.
"It's a credit to the girls. They're prepared and they're ready."
Nussbaum's team was paced by 18 points from Shannon Ryan and 10 from Minick but struggled to slow the Tigers.
"It's like I notice a different thing every time we play them," he said. "They were very quick the first time we played them and this time they were really strong. They're physical and sometimes you think maybe they're fouling, but they're just strong."
Strong enough to claim four straight titles.