York stays hot, cools off Willowbrook
The Willowbrook results this girls basketball season have been impressive, so York knew it was in for a tough game Thursday night in Villa Park.
"I knew they had that big win against Proviso East (on Tuesday) so I wasn't sure what to expect," York coach Brandon Collings said.
What Collings got was a defense that cooled off the Warriors until the fourth quarter, then hung on for a 50-40 nonconference victory to continue York's own strong start to the season.
"Practices are so great with each other, it's just been such a positive experience, I think, for all of us," York junior Carley Schwartz said.
The Dukes (6-1) scored 9 straight points in the first quarter to take a lead they never gave up.
"I feel like our defense is really working," Schwartz said. "We're a very defense-heavy team, so I feel like us having a strong defense really helped us get that lead."
Schwartz had a hand in helping the Dukes to that lead on the offensive end also. She came off the bench to score 11 of her 14 points in the first half. She hit four 3-pointers in the game.
"She bailed us out," Collings said. "Talk about picking up teammates, we missed a bunch of shots in that first half, a bunch of easy looks that we could have and should have hit."
Ahead 19-12 at halftime, York got hot again, extending the lead to 33-14 on a Sara Krissinger free throw late in the third quarter.
Krissinger took the lead on the offensive end in the second half like Schwartz did in the first, scoring 14 of her game-high 16 points. She made 10 of 14 free throws in the final 16 minutes.
Willowbrook (5-3) tried to fight back into the game in the fourth quarter, drawing energy from an Annemarie Knudtson 3-pointer that beat the third-quarter buzzer.
"We got layups in the second half because we were more aggressive in the second half," Willowbrook coach Terry Harrell said. "We weren't aggressive in the first half."
Willowbrook got as close as 48-39 with 1:04 to play on a K'aliyha Herron putback.
"We've just got to do a better job of handling pressure," Collings said. "We just didn't take care of the basketball like we could have and should have."