Wheaton Warrenville South girls basketball coach Rob Kroehnke knew that his star junior, Meghan Waldron, would be approaching the 1,000-point mark for her career soon.
Kroehnke was more than happy to let her accomplish that feat in the Tigers’ 49-36 DuPage Valley Conference win over West Aurora Thursday.
In the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Waldron converted a three-point play to eclipse the milestone, and give her 24 points and 14 rebounds in the win as the No. 13 Tigers remained unbeaten in the DVC.
“It was nice to get it at home here,” Kroehnke said. “We kept her in a couple more minutes and got her out of there. It’s a great accomplishment for her, especially because she’s also our leader in assists and rebounds.”
The game was delayed by nearly 15 minutes when one of the rims was damaged during warm-ups, and both teams came out sluggish offensively after the lay-off. But eventually Wheaton South (17-3 overall, 8-0 DVC) managed to put together a 13-1 run in the first quarter to pull away. A 9-2run in the second quarter helped the Tigers go into the half with a 24-11 lead.
“Our defensive effort was good,” Waldron said. “After the Wheaton North game (Saturday), our defense was phenomenal in that game, so we just wanted to carry that over to tonight.”
The Tigers held West Aurora to 4-for-24 shooting in the first half to build their lead.
“The cover was on the basket there in the first half,” West coach Connie Siljendahl said. “We just could not score. We were happy (allowing 24 points) at halftime. We were very pleased with that. If we were making our baskets, it would have been a really close game.”
The Blackhawks (9-10, 3-5) played their first game without leading scorer and rebounder Liz Skaggs, who suffered a season-ending broken hand against Glenbard East Saturday. Abriya Zeitz led West in scoring with 13 points.
After the game, Waldron posed for pictures and signed T-shirts for her teammates after moving into the top five in program history in scoring. She was the lone Tiger in double figures Thursday.
“I wanted to do it here,” Waldron said. “I love Wheaton Warrenville South. It’s a great program to be a part of.”
