Willowbrook advances to tournament semifinals with win vs. Waubonsie Valley
Senior K'aliyha Herron and junior Stephanie Dasbach are quite an offensive 1-2 punch for a Willowbrook girls basketball team, averaging nearly 31 points combined.
Junior Annemarie Knudtson's job often is to find them.
"I like to give it to my teammates to score because I'm the point guard. I'm trying to set up a play for someone else," Knudtson said.
On Thursday Knudtson proved to be quite a shooter herself. Her season-high 18 points behind four 3-pointers helped the Warriors achieve a historic 41-38 victory over Waubonsie Valley in the quarterfinals of Wheaton North's Bill Neibch Falcon Classic.
With 12 points from Dasbach and 11 by Herron, the trio accounted for all points by the No. 4-seeded Warriors (10-5), who meet No. 8-seed Elk Grove (9-5) in Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal. The Grenadiers, who upset top-seeded Downers Grove North 37-34 Thursday, beat Willowbrook 53-40 Dec. 21.
Knudtson made 6 of 7 shots, including all four 3s, during one stretch from the first to third quarter.
"Usually I don't score a lot but today my shot was on so I just kept shooting," Knudtson said. "Before the game I air-balled a couple of 3s. I just kind of cleared my mind and just shot. I wanted to score so our team could keep going."
In 2018 Willowbrook was excited to finish fifth at Wheaton North. Now the Warriors are in the semifinals for the first time in coach Terry Harrell's 16 years with the program.
"This team has played hard. We have our two leaders throughout the entire year (Herron and Dasbach) and then (Knudtson's) always there," Harrell said.
"(Knudtson) always contributes with assists and defensively, and tonight she was hot. It was deadly. Her 18 points was a big deal."
Knudson and Herron had two baskets each as Willowbrook opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 32-23 lead.
No. 5-seeded Waubonsie (6-6) still fought back and nearly forced overtime. Trailing 40-37, Mykah Berkompas was fouled attempting a game-tying 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds but couldn't convert all three free throws.
Knudtson then was fouled with 1.3 seconds and made the first of two free throws. Waubonsie rebounded the miss but could not make even a full-court desperation shot before time expired.
"All in all the girls fought through. They played a really good game. Defensively, we played a fantastic game," Harrell said. "I have to give a big high-five to my coaching staff, who were suggesting defensive adjustments at halftime."
Waubonsie senior Ahniya Melton had 12 points and 11 rebounds and fueled the comeback. Lauren McKnight had 8 points and Grace Setter 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Waubonsie trailed throughout the first half before scoring the last 8 points with 6 from Melton pull ahead 23-22.
With Waubonsie behind 40-29, Melton had a driving basket and then steal and basket. McKnight followed with her second and third baskets of the quarter to close to 40-37 with 1:49 remaining.
"(Melton is) a fighter. She plays tough and she works hard," Waubonsie coach Brett Love said. "She really did a nice job down the stretch, but we ran out of gas. We started too late. If we had that type of energy from everyone early on, it might have been a different story."
Knudtson, who averages 6.7 points and 4.3 assists, had 15 points in Monday's first-round victory over Elgin. Her 12 first-half points helped to thwart Waubonsie's first-half zone before Willowbrook found success against man-to-man pressure in the second half.
"She usually has most in assists, which helps most of our other players. I appreciate that," Dasbach said. "She was on first today so we just kept telling her to shoot. Why not?"
The 6-foot-1 Dasbach, who averages 16 points and 13 rebounds, was important inside with 18 rebounds against the 5-11 Melton and 6-1 Setter.
"We don't really care who scores as long as together we make it work," Dasbach said.
"Sometimes I might not score as much and my rebounds will be higher. I like to kick it out and sometimes I put it back up. It just depends on the defense."