Will’s 30 leads Prospect past St. Charles North
St. Charles North had a very singular defensive focus for Saturday’s matchup with Prospect in the second round of the York Thanksgiving Tournament: Contain all-area standout Taylor Will.
“We told the girls if we let Will dominate the game, they would beat us,” North Stars coach Sean Masoncup said.
Masoncup proved prophetic. St. Charles North tried to slow down the versatile junior guard, but Will scored early and often en route to a game-high 30 points, leading Prospect past North 61-44 in Elmhurst.
“She’s a very good basketball player, probably the best player in this tournament,” Masoncup said of Will, who torched North with four 3-pointers, driving layups and crisp foul shooting.
Will frustrated the North Stars (0-2) from the outset, posting 10 first-quarter points to spring the Knights (2-0) to a 17-8 lead. Will and her sister, freshman point guard Haley Will, calmly handled St. Charles North’s full-court man-to-man defensive pressure and prevented the North Stars from generating easy baskets in transition off turnovers, a staple of North’s new up-tempo system under its energetic first-year coach.
“We did a nice job offensively of attacking the basket, getting good dribble penetration and getting to the free-throw line against their pressure,” Prospect coach Ashley Graham said. “Taylor, we ask her to do a lot for our team, and she had an excellent game. Haley handles the ball very well and is one of our best on-the-ball defenders, too.”
St. Charles North fought valiantly to stay in the game, keeping the Knights in its sights till late in the third quarter. Guard Ashley Davern’s basket in the post drew North within 37-26 with 5 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter, but Prospect extended its lead to 48-31 heading into the fourth quarter behind a layup and a 3-pointer from Taylor Will, a pair of free throws and a lay-in from Marissa Pacini.
The North Stars’ repeated attempts to rally were hampered by severe foul trouble. Four starters missed floor time with four fouls, Davern came out of the game for an extended period after sustaining a bloody nose when bumped by a Knights player, and starting center Morgan Rosencrants (team-high 12 points) fouled out after sitting on the bench with four fouls for much of the second half. St. Charles North put Prospect in the double bonus early in the second and fourth quarters and committed 24 total fouls.
“The new rules are tough,” Masoncup said, alluding to the IHSA’s efforts at curbing hand-checking, bumping cutters and other physical defensive play this season. “We need to learn how to play defense more with our feet and less with our hands.”
Despite the foul difficulty and a 14-for-39 (35.9 percent) shooting day, Masoncup was encouraged by his youthful squad’s scrappiness and refusal to quit against a talented veteran team.
“We’re young. We start two sophomores and three juniors,” he said. “We’ll get better. We played with heart, we have good character on this team. Now we need to continue working on executing at both ends of the floor. We gave up too many drives to the basket on defense, and offensively we could have done better in the half-court.”
While Prospect looks for its third straight tournament win on Monday, St. Charles gears up to face tournament favorite Neuqua Valley the same day. “Four of the teams in this tournament are ranked in the top 20 of the Chicago area,” Masoncup said. “It’s a tough tournament to start the season, but it will make our team better.”