WW South cruises past Bartlett

Wheaton Warrenville South defeated Bartlett 49-20 to win the Class 4A Glenbard East regional championship Friday in Lombard.

Meghan Waldron led the Tigers attack with 16 points.

It was the Tigers' defense that smothered the Hawks' offense from start to finish. The Tigers held the Hawks to 6 points in the first quarter and scoreless in the second to take a 31-6 lead at halftime.

"Our plan was to play together, play great defense and be efficient on offense," Waldron said. "I thought we did a good job of that in the first half and that set the tone for the whole game."

The Hawks didn't make a field goal until midway into the third quarter when Kaitlin Brohan scored. But by then the Tigers were leading 39-10 after three quarters.

"We're just playing real good defense right now," said Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke. "We've been concentrating on that. You come out and play real good defense and let your offense come around and this is what happens. They are fun to watch. They work so hard defensively and they know where to be and when to be there."

The Tigers (28-3) roughed up the Hawks throughout the game playing a more physical style of play and using a zone offense that had the Hawks spinning in place.

"We're a very strong team," Kroehnke said. "We moved the ball well. We knew they were going to be active in their zone. We moved the ball quickly and got to the open spots and hit some shots."

The Hawks (17-12) continued to play hard despite the score but couldn't get the ball to fall into basket.

"Let's just say it wasn't our night," said Hawks coach Denise Sarna. "(Wheaton Warrenville South) is a very good team. I think we could have played a little better tonight, but we didn't hit anything. In every facet of the game we were off. It made for a rough against a good team."

The Tigers had a balanced attack with seven players in the scoring column.

"We know every quarter they were going to come after us," said Tigers senior Maggie Dansdill. "We just had to keep working hard and never give up."

Dansdill had 10 points including a pair of 3-pointers, and Erin Zappia had 10 for the Tigers.

The Tigers move on to play Geneva on Tuesday in the Addison Trail sectional semifinals in Addison.