Willowbrook shares the wealth
One game into the season and Willowbrook not only sent 13 girls into Tuesday’s basketball game, they all scored.
“We were just all super-excited to have our first game of the season, and we came off a pretty good season last year, so we’re just looking to improve,” said Willowbrook senior Molly Krawczykowski, the leader of the pack with 20 points in the Warriors’ 63-43 nonconference victory against Glenbard North in Villa Park.
A good start to the season began with a good start to the game. Willowbrook used a 10-point run to take a 16-6 first quarter lead to get comfortable enough to go deep into their bench later in the game, when their lead peaked at 23 points.
“It was just because of our first game, we had so much adrenaline going and we all were working really well together,” Krawczykowski said.
“They played a great first quarter,” added Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell. “They were really hyped.”
It helped that the Warriors (1-0) forced 9 first-quarter turnovers on the Panthers (0-1), some of which they turned into layups.
“We don’t really have big posts on our team this year, so we’re more a running team. We’ve been working on running out,” said Krawczykowski, who also had 4 steals.
The Warriors also held Glenbard North to just 11-of-31 shooting from the field, keeping the Panthers from hitting a field goal throughout the second quarter and nearly the first six minutes of the third. The Panthers scored 21 points at the free-throw line on 37 attempts.
“Yeah, not the start we wanted,” Panthers coach John Chamberlain said. “We really have put in a lot of new things at both ends ... so we knew our style was going to be a bit different. I saw some glimmers of it in practice that it was looking OK, but we’re just not ready for prime time. They had a team that was really ready for us and executed really well.”
Melissa Rader had 10 points for the Warriors, and Olivia Domin added 9.
Sophomore Jennifer Deegan led the Panthers with 14 points.
“I was real pleased with her,” Chamberlain said. “She’s a girl who plays off-season, so she’s probably a step ahead.”
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