WWS secret ingredient helps down Glenbard E.

Wheaton Warrenville South girls basketball coach Rob Kroehnke didn't want to give away any secrets.

When asked what kind of defense his team played to beat Glenbard East 48-24 in DuPage Valley Conference action Thursday night in Wheaton, Kroehnke hesitated before finally answering.

"A special one," he said slowly in a hushed tone.

Glenbard East (5-4, 1-1) never did quite figure out WW South's defense, which was a confusing cross between a box-and-one and a matchup zone.

"They did definitely confuse us at times, and people didn't step up that needed to step up," Rams coach Nicole Miller said. "It came down to execution and it wasn't there."

That was painfully obviously in the visitors' 23 percent shooting from the field. They made just 9 of 39 shots and only reached single digits in each quarter.

"Defensively, that was just fantastic," Kroehnke said. "We got after it."

WW South (4-4, 2-1) played well from the start sparked by Sarah Langlas. The senior forward scored early in transition, recording her team's first 6 points on the way to notching 8 of her 10 in the first quarter.

"I think we did an awesome job as far as getting the speed of the game going and just working hard," Langlas said.

The Tigers found themselves with a 16-7 lead after Caitlin Schwark somehow banked in a 3-pointer from the right baseline.

The home team led 24-12 at intermission.

In the second half WW South used a 15-2 run capped by a Hannah Credille 3-pointer to pull away to a 39-15 advantage.

"Sometimes you can come back in the second half, but we came out flat in the beginning of the third quarter and couldn't recover from that," Miller said.

Credille, a freshman forward, finished with a game-high 11 points, all coming in the second half. Senior guard Taylor Nieling contributed 10 points, 4 steals and 3 assists for the Tigers.

The winners made 5 of 11 attempts from beyond the arc. Nieling and Credille each canned a pair of 3-pointers.

While their outside shooting was on, the Tigers also scored 27 points in the paint.

"We took a big jump tonight," Kroehnke said.

"Obviously, there's a lot of little things we have to work on," Langlas said, "but I think if we play that hard it will really work for us."