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PARK RIDGE – Maine South entered Saturday’s matinee against Wheaton Warrenville South with three losses in its past six games.
But after a 61-32 nonconference win over the Tigers (7-5), the Hawks (10-3) will take a two-game winning streak into the Komaromy Classic at Dundee-Crown High School next week.
“Oh my gosh, we’re coming back with so much confidence,” said Cornell University commit and senior Ally Pape, who led the Hawks with 15 points, including three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
“I’m so happy for this team. We are bouncing back from some tough losses and we’re just showing we can stick with any team and beat any team.”
Wheaton Warrenville South stuck with the Hawks in the first quarter. Senior forward Asia Kobylarczyk’s 3-pointer tied the game at 8-8 with 2:10 left in the first quarter to ignite a 9-2 run to close out the first eight minutes. The rally included back-to-back buckets from Pape followed by senior Katie Barker’s steal and assist to Kobylarczyk for a layup and 14-10 lead.
“It was a little bit of a slow start,” Maine South coach Jeff Hamann said. “But credit to them. Once we were able to open things up and get our defensive pressure going in the second quarter, we got going. And we were able to knock down some shots which helped. But it started with our defense.”
Ten Hawks hit their best stride in the second quarter, offensively and defensively. They outscored the Tigers 19-3, allowing only one basket, a reverse layup by junior Abby Keighron. Barker and Anya Chojnowski each had 3-pointers in the period. Sophomore guard Hayden Fahy had a pair of putbacks, the second giving the Hawks their 33-13 lead at intermission.
The Hawks didn’t let up in the third quarter as Pape quickly connected for a 3-pointer from the baseline and they were on their way to outscoring Wheaton Warrenville South 23-13. Fahy’s career-high third rebound and layup ended the quarter.
“She’s scrappy that way,” Hamann said. “All three (putbacks) were on the weakside boards and in basketball as you know 75% of the shots that are missed carom to the weak side and Hayden (six points) was heads up enough to be there. Credit to her on that.”
Hamann credited Pape with staying positive with her shot.
“Ally has worked extremely hard on her game and her shot in particular,” he said. “She is much improved on that. She wasn’t hitting them in the first half and I even said to her in the second quarter to just keep shooting. Obviously she did there in that third quarter and hit the 3s. She is a very good shooter, so credit to her.”
Barker also had three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Kobylarczyk had 14 points with two 3-pointers while juniors Addie Kopf and Chojnowski each had five points.
Keighron led Wheaton Warrenville South with 10 points followed by senior Brooke Ittersagen, who had seven in the first half. Juniors Lauren Morton and Lucy Jethani each had four.
“Absolutely, they’re one of the best teams we’ve played,” Tigers coach Kasey Gassensmith said. “They’re a great team. They’re athletic and long and they switch it up a lot so our girls had to be constantly on their toes.
”We were there in the first and third quarters and we fought hard. But the second and fourth quarters got away from us. Credit to Maine South. They’re a great team. I thought Abby (Keighron) definitely looked to score more today but I definitely would have liked to have attacked their press a little more. And I thought we could have gotten some better looks out of it than we did."