Weary Willowbrook perseveres against Addison Trail

Willowbrook's girls basketball players are ready for a few days off.

Missing two starters and two key reserves due to injury, Willowbrook persevered for a 46-39 West Suburban Gold victory at archrival Addison Trail on Friday.

"It wasn't pretty, but hey, a win's a win at this point. We've got this many kids limping and stuff, a win's a win," Warriors coach Terry Harrell said. "We're tired. It was a bad time of the year to have three games in a row."

"I think everyone's stepping up, and they're doing a good job of doing that," added Willowbrook senior Sam Schmidt, who came out of the game several times to rest her sore back.

An early 10-0 run gave Willowbrook a 12-3 lead, and the Warriors held onto that lead tightly the rest of the game.

"We were all fired up because they're our rival," Schmidt added. "We just wanted to get ahead as much as possible."

The Warriors led by as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter as Addison Trail (4-18, 1-9) fought to catch up.

"Our biggest problem was we were (9 of 21) from the free-throw line," Blazers coach Rob Schader said. "That's going to kill you every time. Especially us. We've struggled to score all year."

Senior Micala Giammarino led Willowbrook (10-15, 6-5) with 16 points. Schmidt added 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.

"That was the girl we had to really watch and we didn't," Schader said of Schmidt, an NIU softball recruit. "We left her wide open and she hit some 3s on us and that hurt us too."

Now the Warriors will get the time off they earned Friday night before taking on Morton next week.

"They were just tired," Harrell said of the few players he has healthy enough to play. "They need some time off. Not having to practice tomorrow and Sunday and taking the day off Tuesday, it'll be good for them."

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