Harris sets tone for Downers Grove North against Waubonsie Valley

Eleanor Harris wanted to be more aggressive Monday going to the basket. She liked the result.

So did her teammates.

The sophomore forward scored a personal-best 10 points and Downers Grove North came from behind to beat Waubonsie Valley in a nonconference girls basketball game in Aurora.

"I guess I really wanted to go hard tonight. I didn't do my best Saturday (against Oak Park), so I wanted to go really hard," Harris said.

She liked how the results looked in the scorebook.

"It feels good. I didn't even realize. I thought I had 8," she said with a laugh.

The Trojans weren't laughing in the first half when Waubonsie Valley used a 9-0 run to take a lead that eventually reached 9 points.

"The first half was good," Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love said. "We executed well. We came out with energy, and I think that was one of our biggest things. We were missing Grace Setter. She was sick tonight. She could have helped out. But this year we're not very deep.

"It's tough to go out and play full-court to get the looks that we need as far as defensively and come in and expend that energy on offense. And then to do that for four quarters when we only played, maybe, five to six that can actually go in and make an impact."

The Trojans (7-2) narrowed their deficit to 20-18 by halftime. They took the lead for good in the third quarter.

"I just think defensively we weren't really in tune to what was going on," Trojans coach Stephan Bolt said. "We just had a lot of lapses, and I thought the second half we did a much better job ... rotating, helping each other out and just playing better team defense."

"They kept throwing up shots really quickly, and I don't think we were ready for them," Harris added.

Downers Grove North was ready for the Warriors (4-5) in the second half, holding them to just 12 points in the final 16 minutes.

"I thought Maegan Ritchie came in and did a nice job defensively in the second half against (Warriors junior guard Lauren McKnight), who was kind of beating us up a little bit in the first half and off the dribble and making some plays. So she did a good job against her," Bolt said.

Seniors Alexis Parker and Ellie Gross joined Harris in scoring 10 points, with Gross getting all of her points in the second half. She also grabbed 8 rebounds and dished 5 assists.

"We've got to take care of the ball a little bit better. I thought we threw it around a little too much in the first half. But if we get opportunities we have good shooters and kids that can put the ball in the basket," Bolt said.

Senior forward Ahniya Melton led Waubonsie Valley with 10 points and 9 rebounds.