Domin dominant in 3rd quarter
Every great once in a while, a basketball player spends a quarter seemingly everywhere, getting her hands on every ball and seemingly scoring at will.
Willowbrook's Angela Domin had one of those quarters Wednesday.
"She stepped up huge, and she did it with her defense more than anything," said Willowbrook coach Troy Nelson. "She had her hands on everything."
The Warriors (8-10) won 45-36 over host Fenton (5-11), with Domin scoring 12 of her game-high 22 points and adding 3 blocks and 3 steals in the third quarter.
Taylor Nelson hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for the Warriors, who have won three consecutive games, remaining unbeaten in the new year.
Despite the loss Fenton coach Tim Anderson was encouraged by the performance his girls put forth. Sam Rubright led Fenton with 18 points, seven rebounds, and four 3-pointers on the night.
Priya Ghayal also came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers.
"That was probably our second-best game all year," Anderson said.
"We made a list of the things we needed to work on, fundamentally, and they did those things tonight with alarming frequency. That's almost as good as we can play against a team like that."
The first eight baskets of the game were 3-pointers, with Nelson hitting three of them and Fenton getting two from Rubright.
Nelson scored 11 of her 14 of her points in the first quarter.
"She was huge for us," Domin said.
Willowbrook led 14-12 after a quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Nelson launched her final 3 of the game from the parking lot, and Katie Seccombe buried a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give Willowbrook a 26-19 halftime lead.
Domin took the game over in the third quarter, scoring all 12 of her team's points in the quarter as the Warriors took a 38-25 lead heading to the fourth.
"I just felt good," Domin said. "And we're playing with more energy. We're more comfortable with each other now than we were early in the year."
Willowbrook held Fenton to 7 points in the second quarter, and 6 in the third.
"This mini-run we've had has been built on our defense," Nelson said. "If we can score and play defense like that-"
Fenton wasn't done scrapping, however, as the Bison (5-11) earned an 11-7 edge in the final quarter.
"I don't think there's a coach in DuPage County who gets more out of his kids than (Anderson) does," Nelson said. "We struggle every year against Fenton. They're in every game, and every time we play them they light it up against us."