Waubonsie Valley gets on a roll

Some timeouts are more effective than others. The timeout coach Brett Love called early in the second quarter worked very well for Waubonsie Valley.

"We had a lead, and it got cut kind of close," Warriors sophomore guard Lauren McKnight said. "He called a timeout and we kind of talked about what we need to do as far as like focus and still execute."

The Warriors executed a 17-point run to blow open the game on the way to a 56-21 nonconference victory Thursday at Glenbard North.

Waubonsie Valley (4-5) led 12-4 after one quarter of play. Glenbard North cut the lead to 4 points, but then McKnight and the Warriors took off. The Panthers led 32-9 at halftime.

McKnight dished 5 assists in that second quarter, finishing with 7 for the game. With 8 points in the third quarter, she scored a game-high 11.

"I knew in the first half, like in the beginning of the first quarter, I wasn't getting as many shots off, so I was like I might as well look for assists," McKnight said. "Coach had talked to me in practice about being an assist player too, so I was kind of working on that as far as passing the ball and getting my teammates open to get my assists up and also work on scoring."

"The good thing about Lauren is that when we have conversations, she applies what we talk about right away," Love said. "We talked about no-look passes. We talked about hitting the angle pass on the zone. We talked about being patient and waiting for the right moment to make a pass. And she really, really did a good job at applying that in this game."

Mykah Berkompas hit three 3-pointers for 9 points, and Megan Harrison, Iwiyisi Osaghae and Grace Setter each added 8 points, with the 6-foot-1 Setter also blocking 5 shots.

Setter is just getting back into action following a concussion suffered in soccer.

"With her we are a different team," Love said. "She brings a lot to the game offensively and defensively. And she really, really pulled things together and played a great game."

Turnovers were the Panthers' biggest problem. Glenbard North (1-6) had problems handling Waubonsie Valley's full-court pressure and turned the ball over 26 times in the first half.

"Our press was working," Love said. "We talk about running our 2-2-1 press. We broke down on film the spots we needed to be, and I think they did a really good job executing, really good job anticipating and getting those skills, getting those easy baskets."

The press also limited the Panthers' shots.

"They're bigger and stronger than we are, and we're always going to struggle with that," Panthers coach Steve Wit said. "We've got some young kids. We've got a lot of guards. There's only so much you can do when you're younger, smaller, slower."