Wheaton Warrenville South girls rally to top Wheaton North

WHEATON – Even when things weren’t going smoothly in the early going Friday, Emily Troia and her Wheaton Warrenville South teammates never lost confidence in each other.

And that belief paid off in the end.

Troia hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining and followed with four straight free throws to lead the visiting Tigers to a come-from-behind 40-37 DuKane Conference win over Wheaton North to spoil a special night for Falcons' senior Sara Abdul.

“I wasn’t shooting it particularly well, but you have to have confidence in yourself,” said Troia, who finished in double figures with 10 points after scoring her team’s final seven. “I just had to shoot it with confidence. As far as the free throws, you just have to calm yourself down and tell yourself you are making them.

“Obviously, we started off a little slow, but part of being confident in ourselves and our team is knowing that if we just continue to play hard and stay calm, we will fight back. You have to play a full 32 minutes.”

Abdul became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Wheaton North girls program with a 3-pointer late in the first quarter.

That gave her a career total of 1,529 points, eclipsing Claire Hyde. The senior added seven more points in the contest, finishing with 14.

”It’s crazy to break the record. There are so many great players who have played here," said Abdul, whose ultimate goal is to reach 2,000 points. “I’m proud of myself, it means a lot, but I’m more disappointed we couldn’t get the win. We’ve come close in a lot of games, we just have to learn how to finish at the end.”

WWS (7-4, 3-1) trailed by as much as 12 midway through the second quarter before slicing the deficit to 22-16 by halftime.

Shea Carver spurred a 13-4 run in the third, scoring eight of her team-high 12 points during the period. The senior added four steals.

“It was really a back-and-forth game,” said Carver, who played her first three years at Montini. “We kept our composure; we stayed patient, we were strong and confident with the ball and we got the ball to the right person to shoot the free throws.

“You just have to come out and give it all you can and give it 100%.”

Five straight points by Abdul to begin the fourth gave the Falcons (1-8, 0-4) a 31-29 lead and that margin later increased to four.

But the home team was held to one basket the rest of the way, a layup by Brigitte Noyes with seven seconds remaining.

Noyes had nine points and three blocked shots and Adeline Sutton scored six. Brooke Ittersagen chipped in with seven points and five rebounds for the Tigers and Abby Keighron added five points and six rebounds.

“Their (Wheaton North’s) record doesn’t indicate anything (about them),” said WWS coach Kasey Gassensmith, whose team had recently lost to St. Charles North and Glenbard South and plays Maine South on Saturday. “They are a good team and they fight hard. The crosstown is always going to be a battle. I’m extremely proud of our girls' composure. In this type of environment, there are going to be a lot of runs and our thing is to stay level and composed and our girls did that.

“We have a tough schedule, but that gets us ready for the level of play we want to be at.”