Wheaton North gets payback against WW South
One nice thing for high school teams in many conference sports is they play opponents more than once during the season.
Wheaton Warrenville South edged Wheaton North on Dec. 15 on the Tigers' home court.
Friday night on the Falcons' home court , Wheaton North made the most of its second chance, downing its crosstown rival 50-44.
"It feels really good. We lost the first time and this win means a lot," said freshman Adeline Sutton, who with Sara Abdul, paced the Falcons' offense with 11 points each.
Like the first game, this was contested from beginning to end.
A steal by Abdul and a basket by her put Wheaton North up 48-30 with under six minutes left.
The Tigers (13-14 overall, 4-7 DuKane Conference) did not go away. Three unanswered baskets, with two coming from Hannah Struebing and one from Marley Carbonaro pulled WW South within 48-36.
After a North timeout with 2:44 remaining, Brooke Ittersagen sank a 3-point basket to make it 48-41.
Sutton turned a steal into a layup to put the Falcons back up 50-41. Struebing made good on a three-point play to narrow the margin further, but that was it for the scoring for both squads.
"The girls were relentless. I am really proud of the way they came back. They kept up the fight," said WW South coach Kasey Gassensmith who is no stranger to the rivalry having played for the Tigers before graduating in 2012.
Emily Troia led WW South with a game-high 15 points. Struebing had 14 points.
The first quarter was dominated by the Falcons (17-10, 4-7). WW South didn't hit its first field goal until just midway through the first quarter as North built a 17-5 lead. The Tigers scored five of the last seven points of the second quarter to trail 19-10 at halftime.
"I think we are a different team than at the beginning of the season. i think we're playing more as a team," Abdul said.
North coach Tyler Bantz expected another battle with WW South and said his team’s start was crucial.
"I would say the start we had was really big with Addy (Sutton) make those three 3s," he said. "We talked about how we would make runs and they (Tigers) would counter those runs."