Freshman Shain, WW South move up in standings
Wheaton Warrenville South's Annie Shain picked a good time of year to register a season high in points.
With the DuPage Valley Conference season winding to a close, the 5-foot-5 freshman guard scored 12 points Thursday night, including 6 in the first quarter as she helped the Tigers to a 57-32 victory over Naperville North in Wheaton.
"I was just feeling the shot, and it was good to have the team passing and moving it around," Shain said. "I was just letting the game come to me, just going into my shot."
Thursday's win moved the Tigers into a tie for the DuPage Valley Conference lead with rival Wheaton North, with the two scheduled to meet Tuesday night at WW South.
The Tigers (17-8, 10-2) blitzed Naperville North (4-20, 3-8) right from the outset of the game, holding leads of 10-0 and 19-4 in the first quarter. Wheaton Warrenville South sank 8 of its 13 field-goal attempts in the opening quarter and outrebounded the Huskies 9-5.
"It started with our defense. We turned the pressure up defensively and it sort of got our offense in a rhythm," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We shot really, really well. I can't remember the last time we shot that well, and we did a great job passing the ball, making that extra pass for an easier shot."
The Tigers' offense slowed down in the third quarter, though, scoring just 5 points. However, Wheaton Warrenville South managed to increase its lead anyway, as the defense limited the Huskies to just 4.
"I told them 'Good news, bad news,' " Kroehnke said. "We stopped making that extra pass; we were settling for the first available look, when we should have been maybe passing it one or two more times.
"We took care of it in the fourth, made that extra pass, and we started hitting some shots. We've got to be real careful that we don't hurry ourselves offensively. Even though we're putting pressure on defensively, we've got to slow down at the offensive end."
Despite seeing his team drop its 20th game of the season, Naperville North coach Jay Wachtel feels his Huskies are on the cusp of playing better basketball.
Recent quality stretches against West Aurora and Plainfield Central have Wachtel encouraged. Now, he wants to see the Huskies begin putting teams away.
"No one wanted to go down fighting. No one wanted to say, 'Here's a timeout, here's a stop, and now we're going to go score the next two baskets or four baskets,' " Wachtel said. "We're getting there to a point where it's almost even, and then we're not really ready to take the next step."