Lake Park 64, Wheaton Warrenville South 46

The Lake Park girls basketball team passed its endurance test Tuesday night.

Playing its sixth game in nine days, the Lancers overcame a sluggish start with a strong second half to down host Wheaton Warrenville South 64-46 in nonconference action.

"The first half was so flat," Lake Park coach Lisa Smith said. "I think the kids are just tired, but, hey, perseverance. You just have to toughen up. It's that time of year."

With WW South leading scorer Sarah Langlas sitting out the second half with an ankle injury, Lake Park (18-7) outscored the home team 41-22, including 25-9 in the third quarter.

Samantha Arnold didn't score in the opening quarter but wound up leading the Lancers with 22 points, 15 coming in the second half.

"We started off slow, me included," said Arnold, who also registered 11 rebounds and 5 assists. "Obviously, we're kind of worn out and tired, but we realized that they came to play and I think that's when we realized we had to play."

WW South (16-8) scored the first 8 points and held a 24-23 halftime edge fueled by Langlas' 9 points.

However, the Tigers found out how much Langlas means to them when she watched the second half with her right ankle wrapped in ice.

"They're a good team and Arnold's a great player, but nobody should come in here and score 60-something points," WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. "I thought their other kids really stepped up tonight and hit some big shots."

After suffering through 24 percent shooting from the field in the first half, the Lancers drilled 6 of 8 shots to start the second half on the way to shooting 58 percent over the final two quarters.

"I thought they moved the ball much better the second half," Smith said of her players.

Lake Park made nine 3-pointers in shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc. Jenna Aloia and Arnold connected on three treys apiece.

Aloia finished with 11 points and teammate Carly Willert tallied 10 points and 6 assists.

WW South received points from nine players but didn't see anyone reach double figures as its winning streak ended at five.

Langlas' ankle injury was described as a "tweak." The Tigers hope she returns to health for their final three DuPage Valley Conference games as they trail leader Wheaton North by a game. They meet the Falcons on Feb. 5 at WW South.