Rolling Meadows outlasts Willowbrook

For three quarters Willowbrook and Rolling Meadows battled each other in a good, old-fashioned tug of war. From big 3-point shots to free throws, neither team was going to give to give an inch.

In the fourth quarter, however, things took a bad turn for the Warriors, and Rolling Meadows took advantage of it. The Mustangs walked away victorious 44-30 Tuesday night at Fenton's Season's End Tournament.

"We didn't play with the intensity that we should have tonight," Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell said. "We lost to a team we should have beat. We just really didn't play well."

From the opening tip neither team could put the other team to rest. The game stayed within a 4-point game all the way till halftime. Warriors guard Mary Flood, who led the way for Willowbrook with 11 points, had no trouble finding the lane to the basket. She opened the game with a layup and hit the free throw after being fouled on the play.

Rolling Meadows had a chance to take advantage of a Willowbrook four-minute scoring drought in the second quarter but couldn't capitalize. The Warriors continued to fight back and went into halftime trailing 20-18.

Just as the Warriors couldn't find the basket in the first half, the Mustangs found themselves on the end of a four-minute scoring drought to begin the second half. Willowbrook regained the lead after another Flood layup and a 3-pointer from Ellen Wright. The Warriors found themselves on a 6-0 run and a 4-point lead.

However, the Mustangs' Amanda Gunn had something to say about that. Her 3-point basket late in the third gave Rolling Meadows the lead back at 25-24. The fourth quarter was all Mustangs, as they went on to score 17 points in the last eight minutes of play.

"No disrespect to Willowbrook whatsoever, but that just wasn't our style of ball those first few quarters," Mustangs coach Todd Hatfield said. "I just challenged them and told them we are borderlining an embarrassing performance."