Girls Basketball: Wheaton Academy overcomes slow start

Updated: December 9, 2011 9:36PM

Streaks are meant to be broken, and Wheaton Academy and Sarah Drury made sure that Guerin’s early-season run ended Friday.

The senior forward paced the Warriors with 25 points in a 49-37 victory at Guerin on Friday night in their Suburban Christian Conference showdown.

The Gators (6-1, 3-1) pressed the Warriors (5-3, 2-1) from the opening tip and were off to the races with senior guard Kalie Di Nunno stealing the first two Wheaton Academy passes resulting in five quick points on a Di Nunno lay-in and a Jackie Bartnicki three. Guerin built up a 9-2 lead, but after the Wheaton timeout, it was all Warriors as they repeatedly fed Drury and led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.

“We just needed to regain our composure,” said Wheaton Academy coach Beth Mitchell. “We know they’re a great shooting team, and they might jump on us, but we had to take care of the ball. After the timeout we came out and played hard. Drury did a great job with her free throws and in the post. She had a stellar performance. ”

Di Nunno, who led Guerin with eight points, put the Gators up for the final time of the night with a three-pointer to start the second quarter. Drury then scored eight straight points to start a 14-0 Warriors run. The Gators couldn’t make a dent after that point as Drury went 11-of-15 from the free throw line as the Warriors converted 15-of-24 as a team. Guerin only got to the line eight times and made just one foul shot.

“Sometimes it happens,” Drury said about nights like this where everything seems to go right. “Our team pushes the ball and works hard to get the ball inside to me.”

Senior guard Ally Witt added 12 points for the Warriors while senior guard Kelly Nemec contributed eight in the victory. Junior center Sara Brodner scored six for the Gators, all in the first half.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.