WW South moves on with win over St. Charles E.
The big stage was no match for Wheaton Warrenville South's young and talented bunch Wednesday night.
Sophomore forward Jayla Johnson scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while freshmen guards Mira Emma and Mackenzie Stebbins tallied 13 points apiece as the Tigers staged a second-half rally to defeat St. Charles East 59-42 in Class 4A girls basketball regional semifinal action in Bartlett.
Trailing 35-34 the fifth-seeded Tigers (18-9), who will play No. 4 Bartlett Friday in the regional title game, seized control with a 14-0 run - the first 10 of which came during the final 2:25 of the third quarter.
Stebbins' 3-pointer kicked off the surge that also included back-to-back inside baskets by Johnson and Emma's 3-pointer from the corner.
"Jayla was around last year - she knows what's going on," said Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke. "But for Mira, Macker (Stebbins) and Kennedy (Youngblood), our other sophomore, this is their first taste (of the postseason).
"They've sort of been prepared going through our conference though because we had some really good, close games. It sort of mimics what happens here. They're mentally strong kids."
"Once we relaxed, we came together as a team," said Emma. "We've just got to play our game."
Seniors Hannah Vitkus and Kelly Rinker combined for 24 of their team's 26 first-half points as the 12th-seeded Saints (14-16) carried a 26-25 advantage into the locker room.
St. Charles East struggled to find the range offensively in the second half, shooting 23 percent from the field - including just 2 of 14 from beyond the arc.
"The defense was absolutely fantastic in the second half," said Kroehnke, whose team held the Saints to just 16 second-half points. "That's what we've been doing all year - playing real good defense. We took care of the ball and we made our free throws. We get to play another night."
Vitkus and Rinker paced the Saints with 17 points each while season leading scorer Sara Rosenfeldt finished with 4 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out with 1:15 remaining.
"I thought we played a real solid first half," said Saints coach Lori Drumtra. "It kind of got away from us and we stopped looking underneath.
"We shot 3s much more than we normally do," said Drumtra, whose team finished 6 for 25 from beyond the arc. "When you do that, you often only get one chance at the basket. We really needed more inside touches than we got in that game."