Wheaton Warrenville South tips short-handed Geneva
It may only count for one win but it felt like a lot more than that for Wheaton Warrenville South's girls basketball team Friday night.
Having been ousted from postseason play by 2-time defending Class 4A state champion Geneva the past 2 years - and 4 times in the last 5 seasons - the Tigers (13-7, 6-2) earned a hard-fought 47-44 road victory over their nemesis Vikings (14-7, 6-1) in Geneva.
"It's a great team win and we're all excited we could come together and do that," said senior guard Maria Dohse, who snapped a 40-40 deadlock on a reverse layup with 2:15 remaining. "They've ended our season the last two years."
Geneva, which had its 23-game conference winning streak, came right back and tied the score at 42-42 on sophomore Kelly McCloughan's driving layup along the baseline with 1:57 left.
Freshman Lily Huntzinger (6 points) put the Tigers in front for good with a pair of free throws at the 1:19 mark, and senior teammate Mira Emma (11 points) added 3 free throws over the final 43 seconds to secure the DuKane Conference win.
"This is my first time coaching on this floor," said longtime Tigers coach Rob Kroehnke. "You've got to be ready to play over here and it feels good to get it. We've had some battles over the last 6-7 years. We've won some and they've won the most recent ones so it's good to get this one."
Geneva handed the Tigers a 47-38 home defeat back on Dec. 1.
"That's a long time ago," said Kroehnke. "We're both different teams right now."
Sophomore guard Kate Palmer scored a game-high 16 points for the Vikings, who were without starters Grace Hinchman (hip flexor injury) and Katie Montgomery (soccer in Florida).
Senior Emma Davine (10 points, 6 rebounds) and McCloughan (8 points, 6 rebounds) provided a spark for the Vikings, who suffered their first conference loss since Jan. 17, 2017 (61-49 to St. Charles North).
"I thought Emma and Kelly played fantastic," said Meadows.
Playing relentless zone defense, the Tigers limited Geneva's leading scorer, Lindsay Blackmore, to 4 points.
"This is what we've been doing all year," said Kroehnke. "We've had success holding big scorers. We don't do anything special but we identify. They're athletes. When they get it turned on on defense, they can cover some people. We don't know anything else so we better continue to do it."
"Our defense is what we're more known for," said Dohse. "Just going crazy right away and keeping the pressure on constantly."
Blackmore, who spent the majority of the second quarter on the bench applying an ice bag to her nose, returned in the second half for the Vikings.
"I went to pass and someone hit me in the nose," said Blackmore. "It started bleeding a little bit and then I went out and it started gushing.
"This was a tough loss but next time we need to be better on defense."
Geneva led 31-25 midway through the third quarter when the Tigers went on a 7-0 run that included 5 points from senior guard Kylie Ruggles (12 points, 4 steals).
"We had a 6-point lead late in the third quarter," said Meadows. "Those are the points where we as a team need to show a little bit more maturity and bump that from 6 to 10 (points).
"We'll be OK."