A statement win for WW South over New Trier
Kasey Gassensmith gave her Wheaton Warrenville South teammates a celebratory high-five and a chest bump for good measure.
The Tigers had reason to puff their chests out.
A Gassensmith basket started a 14-0 game-turning third-quarter run, and the Tigers hung on for a gritty 49-45 win over New Trier at the 22nd McDonald's Shootout on Saturday in Villa Park.
"I always tell the girls that our next game is the biggest game, but this really was," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "We got to test ourselves against some really good competition. We didn't win anything today, but that's the kind of team we're going to see in the playoffs. We battled, we kept our heads and we got it done."
WW South's win was its sixth straight, but this one carried extra cache. It was the school's first win at the shootout in its second time there, and it came against a New Trier team (13-6) making its 18th appearance and generally held in higher regard than the Tigers (16-2).
"A lot of people say that we are winning because we haven't played good teams, but that's not true," said Gassensmith, who scored a team-high 15 points. "I think any doubt that people might have had about our team should be gone."
WW South was playing its first game in seven days and looked it in a choppy first half on both sides. New Trier led 18-16 at the break, and a basket by Emma Rossi gave the Trevians their biggest lead at 22-16.
Gassensmith answered with a three-point play, scored off a turnover, and Meghan Waldron made a driving layup to give WW South the lead for good at 23-22. A Waldron steal and score capped the 14-0 run for a 30-22 lead.
"We knew our shots would start to fall, and they did," Kroehnke said. "It was hold on in the first half and try to wear 'em down."
The Tigers ratcheted up their 1-3-1 pressure in the second half, with good results, forcing 10 third-quarter turnovers.
"We made too many mistakes to beat a good team, and Wheaton South is a good team," New Trier coach Teri Rodgers said. "You give them an inch and they'll take it."
Like her teammates, Waldron struggled to finish offensively in the first half, scoring 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting. But she turned it on from there and finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists.
"Megan stepped up in the second half, because I was a little worried," Kroehnke said. "We finished well."
After a basket by Rossi, who scored a game-high 22 points, cut the WW South lead to 41-40 with 1:30 left, Waldron knifed through the New Trier defense for a layup to stem the tide.
"We usually like to trap more, but we were not able to set up our trap as much because of (Waldron)," Rodgers said. "She's very good."
Sierra Bisso added 12 points and Maggie Dansdill 7 points and 5 rebounds for WW South. New Trier's Northwestern-bound senior Maggie Lyon, averaging more than 20 points a game, was held to 9 on 3-of-12 shooting but did dish out 6 assists.