Elk Grove beats Willowbrook again
Elk Grove and Willowbrook got a sneak preview of each other last Saturday. Friday's semifinal at the Wheaton North Bill Neibch Falcon Classic turned out much the same.
Elk Grove defeated the Warriors for a second time in a week to advance to the tournament championship on Saturday night, winning 46-40 Friday.
"The girls are so excited obviously," said Jennifer Buxton, coach of the No. 8 seed Grenadiers. "We want to play good competition so we can get better because we have a tough (Mid-Suburban League) to go back to and we want to get better during the holiday season. But this is really exciting for us."
"It feels really nice because in past years we haven't been ranked," added Grenadiers sophomore Lili Duckmann. "Usually we lose the first game and this year it's all completely changing. So it's nice to be a part of that and finally all the hard work pays off."
Elk Grove (10-5) will meet No. 7 seed Glenbard South at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the championship game. Glenbard South, second in Class 3A a season ago, won the tournament two years ago.
Elk Grove defeated Willowbrook by 13 a week ago.
"I think they're really good competition for us," Duckmann said. "We both have about the same level of play and the same height and the same type of game, so it's always really competitive."
"I knew this was going to be a tight game because we had a tough game against them last Saturday and I knew they would come ready for our 2-3 zone, and they were," Buxton added. "They came and they really slowed the tempo down and they did a nice job of that in the first half. And we wanted to mix it up and get the tempo a little more in our style in our style, so we had to such to the man-to-man on and off a couple of possessions."
Willowbrook (10-6) never trailed until early in the third quarter when Olivia Masnica's 3-pointer put the Grenadiers ahead 24-23. Willowbrook regained the lead briefly, but Elk Grove had momentum.
The Warriors were within two points with 52.8 seconds to play after K'aliyha Herron hit a pair of free throws to make the score 40-38. But the Grenadiers made the plays and free throws down the stretch to keep the Warriors at arm's length.
"The game ended like it ended on Saturday," said Warriors coach Terry Harrell. "It ended with everybody shooting free throws. They shot more free throws than we did at the end."
Duckmann led Elk Grove with 14 points, and Megan Murray added 13 and 6 rebounds.
Herron led Willowbrook with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Annemarie Knudtson scored 11.