Naperville North handles Waubonsie Valley
Sitting on the makeshift bench in the bleachers at Naperville North on Tuesday, senior Greta Kampschroeder's night appeared to be over with the Huskies cruising past Waubonsie Valley in DVC action.
Then, midway through the fourth quarter, she ran back onto the floor to help carry injured teammate Hope Aniceto off the hardwood.
That's all in a day's work for the Oregon State-bound senior who learned in the afternoon that she had been named a McDonald's All-American before she wiped away tears of joy and scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Huskies to a 62-26 victory.
"She's beyond deserving," Huskies coach Erin Colletti said. "Obviously as the kind of player she is on the court, the teammate that she is, the student that she is, the person that she is. We're super proud of her."
Kampschroeder is one of only 24 girls who received McDonald's All-American accolades. She was watching The Jump on ESPN at 2 p.m. on Tuesday when all of a sudden there her name was on the screen: Greta Kampschroeder.
"None of the players found out by email or anything ahead of time so I was so anxious all morning because you really never know," she said. "To be honest, once I saw my name on TV I was so excited I broke down in tears. It was a special moment. I've worked for this since I was super young so finally getting to see my name on the list is super cool. It's a true blessing."
Like she's done so many times, Kampschroeder drained a 3-pointer in the opening minute and the Huskies never trailed behind a potent, balanced attacked that also got it done on the other end, forcing 17 turnovers.
The Huskies (6-1, 4-0) drained nine 3-pointers and had three players score in double figures in addition to Kampschroeder with Abby Homan (12), Layla Henderson (11) and Abby Drendel (10). Emily Dulik snagged 10 rebounds off the bench while Homan pulled down 8.
"We moved the ball well and got a lot of open looks," Colletti said. "We executed our offense really well and defended, which created a lot of opportunities to start the offense. I can't ask for more. We just have got to stay healthy."
While Kampschroeder's rewriting of school record books won't happen due to the shortened season, her mark has been made big-time.
"She had the opportunity to surpass every record this season, but with the shortened season, we're playing 13 games instead of 30," Colletti said. "She should be the all-time leading scorer and probably should be the leading all-time rebounder. That's the unfortunate side of it, but when I talk to her about it she's like, 'Coach, I don't even care. I just want to win games.'"
She's already won over her teammates and the number of congratulatory texts and tweets were piling up like her career high school stats. Last year, she also helped them finally win a regional after a lengthy drought.
"I've always looked up to Greta," Homan said. "I want to be the player Greta is. That's what I've worked hard to be."
The Warriors (1-5, 1-4) trailed 22-11 after one quarter and 38-14 at halftime.
Lauren McKnight had a strong effort with 15 points while Grace Abrams came off the bench to sink a couple 3-pointers for the Warriors.
"We knew it was going to be a challenge," McKnight said. "We had a game plan and kind of executed it, but kind of didn't it. We got some shots and played hard until the end."