Willowbrook makes shots

Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell says his team plays as hard as any in the state.

“Our problem,” he said, “is we just don’t make shots lots of times. We make shots, we look a lot better.”

The Warriors sure did Friday.

Willowbrook bolted out to a 21-8 lead after a quarter and never looked back, beating Regina Dominican 58-32 in the opening game of the 21st annual McDonald’s Shootout in Villa Park.

Warriors sophomore Angela Bruno scored the game’s first 7 points, 9 of her team-high 13 in the first quarter, and also added 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Willowbrook (6-13) set the tone on the defensive end, pressuring Regina (3-15) into 12 turnovers in the first quarter and 12 more in the second.

“We’ve been working on our press for a really long time, and that helped us tonight,” Bruno said. “Our defense fed into our offense.”

Willowbrook was coming off a 43-33 loss to District 88 rival Addison Trail on Thursday. A slow start cost the Warriors. They flipped that script Friday.

Jessica Nolen’s free throw midway through the second quarter pushed the lead to 28-8, and it was 34-13 by half.

“We were able to step in and get some steals and easy baskets, and at that point we loosened up,” Harrell said. “Once you loosen up shots start falling.”

Colleen Krawczykowski, a second sophomore among three in the Warriors rotation, came off the bench to score 13 points and Nolen had 11. Jenna Dalton had 9.

“The girls were very motivated,” Harrell said. “They felt like they didn’t have their best game last night, especially in the first half. Tonight the girls were very focused, especially with our press.”

Bruno said it isn’t hard to get motivated to play in one of Illinois’ marquee girls basketball events at her own school.

“This game, we said that we were going to come out and play all four quarters, and never let up,” Bruno said. “We really came out and did that.”