Wheaton North can't miss at Shootout

Given the 10 a.m. start at Willowbrook, you'd forgive fans for rubbing their eyes and thinking they were dreaming.

Wheaton North's shooting was that startingly good.

In their first appearance at the 20th annual McDonald's Shootout the Falcons put up a dizzying 31 first-quarter points en route to a 69-47 rout of St. Ignatius.

Wheaton North led 31-21 after a quarter, 45-27 at halftime in a breakneck pace.

"I haven't seen anything like that, ever," Wheaton North coach David Eaton said. "The kids were excited. This is a big stage. They were ready to go."

With Wisconsin assistant coach Kathi Bennett in attendance, Wheaton North junior Fantasia Vine scored 14 of her 22 points in the first quarter. Vine showcased an array of runners, fastbreak baskets and long-range shooting. After hitting her first 3 shots, Vine pulled up from 25 feet and buried the 3-pointer to put Wheaton North up 20-9.

"As long as I'm playing basketball," Vine said with a smile, "I don't care what time of day it is. Just eat breakfast, come out and be ready. But no, I'm not a morning person."

Wheaton North (9-7) hit all four of its 3-point attempts in the first quarter and 14 of its first 17 total shot attempts. St. Ignatius (5-14) burned three timeouts, but it couldn't cool the Falcons' hot hand.

"I think at one point I looked at their shot chart and there was only one bubble that hadn't been filled," St. Ignatius coach Katie Boyce said, "and there were about 30 others that had been."

Vine was far from the only Falcon to get in on the offensive bonanza. Lauren Graham scored 16 points, AK Feltes had 10 points and 15 rebounds and sophomore Maddie Baillie scored 10 points. St. Ignatius never pulled closer than 13 in the second half.

A smashing debut for the young Falcons in one of Illinois' biggest regular-season girls basketball showcases.

"We were very lucky to be chosen to be in this," Vine said. "We wanted to prove that we belong."

Peaking Wheaton North has now won four straight since its Christmas tournament. At that event the Falcons beat highly regarded Glenbrook South in another morning start.

"We didn't start off the season like we wanted to, and part of that is being young," said Eaton, who starts three juniors and a sophomore. "We're starting to come together, and offensively the last few games we've looked good."