SHABBONA-- "She's a freshman" was a chant you might have heard Monday in the Indian Creek gymnasium as its girls basketball team defeated Aurora Central Catholic 54-37.
That is because Taylor White, a freshman, put together a solid effort and was a good complement to the offense that revolves around a really good shooter.
The Timberwolves (8-2) are used to two things this year. One is playing the full-court press all game. They use the defense to keep the tempo of the game high and wear down opposing teams. Offensively, they are seeing a box-and-one defense often.
This defense puts a defender on top shooter, Lindsay Richardson (17 points and 17 rebounds), and the other four defenders play a zone defense.
"Almost every night we see (box-and-one) and that opens it up for (White)," said coach Paul Muchmore. "She has to learn she has to be the scorer when they are taking away (Richardson)."
Consider the lesson learned after halftime. White finished second in scoring with 16 points and the majority of them came in the third quarter when the team needed it the most.
After earning a 10-point halftime lead, White would trade baskets with the Chargers and, at one point, stretch the lead to 12 points.
Then the Chargers put together their run. They went on an eight-point blitz and narrowed the gap to four.
"We starting making the extra pass and making the shots," said coach Mark Fitzgerald. "It's not a difficult game when that happens."
With the lead down to four, White ended the run with a two-point basket from the top of the key.
"I was just open for the shots and so I tried to put it in," said White.
The Chargers were more conventional, leaning on seniors. Brooke Frantzen led the team with 17 points. Stephanie Pogwizd added seven points and 14 rebounds and Sonya Steder contributed seven points.
"They are our captains and with kids like that I will take my chances," said Fitzgerald.
The Chargers tried to close the gap, but early shooting woes from short range created too big of a deficit and proved to be the difference for ACC (2-6).
Muchmore had a theory of where some of those missed lay-ups come from, "part of their struggle to finish was the pace of the game. You get tired and it's hard to make layups."
As for the leading scorer of the game, Richardson had a double-double and set a tone early with a pair of three-pointers in the first half.
"That is defeating when you work hard to score points and then we make one pass and bang we hit a three," said Muchmore.
As for the two scorers this night, Fitzgerald commented by just saying, "you have to pick your poison."
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