Warriors make Falcons blink
That wasn't a girls basketball game, that was a blur. Blink and you missed something.
In a battle of two quick, running teams, host Wheaton Academy proved just a little bit quicker and more aggressive than Wheaton North, scoring a 52-46 victory over the Falcons in the Wheaton Shootout nightcap Saturday in West Chicago.
"I feel like it lasted about three hours," Warriors coach Beth Mitchell said with a laugh. "It seemed like a pretty long game."
The Warriors (8-0) swarmed the Falcons (6-3) from the start, converting 6 steals into a 16-6 lead after one quarter.
"We knew they were going to come out in a zone press, we just didn't execute tonight. We should have spent a little more time getting ourselves ready," Falcons coach David Eaton said. "We didn't execute all night. There were a lot of plays that we didn't execute on, and that comes down to me getting them ready in practice. Obviously, we're not there yet. I told the girls my fault, we'll bounce back next week and get ourselves ready to go."
"That was huge for us, especially since we got some players in foul trouble," Mitchell said. "That was huge to get off to a big start like that just so the kids have the energy and intensity going into that third quarter."
The Falcons jumped back into the game in the third quarter, going on a 13-0 run to grab a 30-26 lead on Madison Goudy's 3-pointer with 1:47 left. The Falcons took advantage of fourth fouls to Warriors leading scorers Jenn Lee and Alexa Sharkey along the way.
"Obviously, our two key players being on the bench was kind of scary, but kids came in and played the minutes we needed them to play and kept us in the game, and really as a coach that's all you can ask for," Mitchell said.
The fourth quarter belonged to Wheaton Academy. Lee scored 7 points in the period - including a 3-pointer with 4:08 left that gave the Warriors the lead for good, 39-38 - before fouling out with 10 points for the game.
Wheaton Academy senior guard Leah Fortune made her season debut after playing for Brazil's soccer team in the U-20 World Cup in Chile. Despite having just a couple of basketball practices with the Warriors, Fortune contributed some key ballhandling and hustle plays and nailed 5 free throws down the stretch to keep the Falcons at bay. She also had 6 steals and 3 assists.
"She was tremendous down the stretch," Mitchell said, "especially for us defensively. We went to a little smaller lineup down at the end (of the game) and I think that was the difference was getting her in the game for defensive purposes."
It was an especially sweet victory for the Warriors, not only because they defeated a much bigger school that likely will contend for the DuPage Valley Conference championship.
"We had a lot of motivation to keep the undefeated record, so we came out knowing we had to play to our best ability to keep the undeated record," Sharkey said.
Sharkey led the Warriors with 13 points, and her 6 rebounds helped the Warriors gain a 34-22 edge on the boards. Meghan Grant added 9 points and 15 rebounds.
Sophomore center Lauren Graham and sophomore guard Fantasia Vine led the Falcons with 14 points each.