WW South 3-0 after downing St. Charles East
Despite being just three games into the season, Wheaton Warrenville South's girls basketball team had plenty of reasons to celebrate Saturday afternoon.
Improving their record to 3-0 with a convincing 52-30 victory over St. Charles East (1-2) in the third round of the Schaumburg Lady Saxons Thanksgiving Classic, the Tigers also received an historic performance from senior forward Jayla Johnson.
Johnson, a 2-time all-DuPage Valley Conference selection, reached the 1,000-point mark for her career during a team-leading 14-point, 5-rebound effort.
Needing 6 points to reach the milestone, Johnson muscled in an inside basket despite being fouled for her 1,000th career point. The basket gave the Tigers a 22-4 lead with 1:37 left in the second quarter.
"I thought about it before the game," said Johnson. "I was grateful but I still had the rest of the game to play. It was a good feeling."
Johnson joins Meghan Waldron (school-best 1,948 points), Charliss Ridley, Katie Meier, Keilani Moeaki, Mari Maaske and Kim Joyce in the Tigers' 1,000-point club.
"She has had a great career," said Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke. "She's leading this team right now."
Utilizing a full-court pressure defense, the Tigers completely disrupted the Saints' offensive plans throughout the opening half.
While 5 different players - Kylie Ruggles, MacKenzie Stebbins, Kennedy Youngblood, Ellery Fahey and Johnson got into the scorebook for the Tigers in the first quarter, the Saints managed just a lone free throw by Sara Rosenfeldt and trailed 13-1.
After Katherine Weinzirl's 3-pointer accounted for the first Saints' field goal with 3:15 left in the second quarter, the Tigers answered with a 10-0 run that included 3-point baskets from Mira Emma and Ruggles and Johnson's milestone bucket.
Forcing 15 first-half turnovers, the Tigers led 28-7 at the intermission.
"Early in the year, your offense isn't where you want it to be but your defensive effort can be there," said Kroehnke. "That's what we've done now for the first three games - give a really great effort defensively."
The Tigers, who return to Schaumburg Tuesday night to face Stevenson (2-1), have held their first 3 opponents to an average of 29.6 points per game.
"It's all defense right now at this time of year," said Kroehnke. "We haven't put all of our plays in yet. We'll hopefully get to that point where we're working on things offensively but right now - what a great effort."
Ruggles and Maria Dohse chipped in with 9 and 8 points, respectively, for the Tigers, who connected on 8 of their 20 3-point attempts and made 14 of 16 free throws.
Weinzirl led the Saints with 12 points - all on 3-pointers - while Ashley DiOrio finished with 7 points and Rosenfeldt added 6 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals.
"We were missing our starting point guard (Lexi Kiefer) today so it was kind of like a double whammy," said Saints coach Aubree Schuett.
"The good that comes from it is that it's really early in the season. We'll get it figured out. This is not going to be a long-term problem."