Willowbrook runs past Addison Trail
Willowbrook point guard Angela Bruno always looks to rev up her team’s offense by running the fastbreak. With the Warriors controlling the defensive glass in Tuesday’s girls basketball game against Addison Trail, Bruno was at her best pushing the ball up the court to open teammates for easy buckets.
These quick-strike runouts helped Willowbrook surge to a big lead early on en route to a 69-39 rout of the visiting Blazers in Villa Park.
“We were running up and down really well and that’s why we won by 30,” said Bruno, a senior who chipped a tooth during the game but didn’t miss a beat.
Fueled by rebounding and turnovers, the Warriors (5-2) scored 14 unanswered points to open the game. Bruno fed Colleen Krawczykowski, Molly Krawczykowski and Melissa Rader for easy transition buckets during that stretch.
The Warriors led 16-3 at the end of the first quarter and 29-15 at halftime. Addison Trail (3-3) did not score its first field goal until 1:41 into the second quarter.
“We controlled boards both offensively and defensively, which is really important for us because we are not biggest team in the world,” said Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell. “We got out on the run. We are a good running team. Usually if we can get a good clean rebound on defense, we get some easy baskets that way. Our girls are pretty fast and we look ahead.”
On the boards for the Warriors, Anita Sterling and Rader really got after it. Sterling led all Willowbrook scorers with 13 points, including 11 in the second half. The senior had some nice second-chance points. Rader and Colleen Krawczykowski chipped in 9 points apiece. Sterling felt the team’s hard work in practice paid off in this win.
“We had a problem last week with boxing out,” Sterling said. “These practices we were focusing on boxing out and making sure to control the offensive boards and not give teams the chance to board and then run out on us. We improved this game with that.”
“Today we did a good job of boxing out,” Harrell said. “The girls really stepped up and did that tonight. We need to do that every night.”
For the the Blazers, they got a nice offensive spark from sharpshooting guard Kelsey Horvath, who scored a game-high 14 points, including 4 3-pointers. But 19 turnovers in the first two quarters hurt their chances to keep up with the Warriors on their home court.
“We’ve got to slow the ball down and take care of the basketball,” said Addison Trail coach Rob Schader. “We allowed them to do what they wanted offensively and defensively.”