Meghan Waldron-led WW South puts away Naperville North early

Wheaton Warrenville South had a week to think about its loss to rival Wheaton North.

“I was itching to play again,” WW South forward Melinda Franke said. “Wheaton North was a tough loss for us. They played really well. I wanted to play again. We’ve been off for a week.”

Franke won’t have nearly that long to recover from the physical pounding she took Thursday against Naperville North.

“I was getting elbowed on the screens,” she said. “They were running at me like football players.”

At least Franke had the last laugh on the scoreboard. Meghan Waldron scored 26 points and No. 11 WW South closed out the first half on a 24-5 run en route to a 66-42 victory Thursday in Wheaton.

The game was the first of eight in 14 days as WW South (19-3, 6-1 in the DuPage Valley) tries to make up the games it lost due to the inclement weather.

The host Tigers quickly fell behind 10-4 five minutes into the game thanks to a three-pointer by Naperville North’s Caleigh Corbett and a conventional three-point play by Kayla Sharples.

“It took a little bit of time to get comfortable playing at home again,” WW South coach Rob Kroehnke said. “But as soon as we figure out a few things, where we want the ball go, get a couple of fast breaks opportunities and some easy hoops, good things will happen.”

Leading 28-15 at the break, the Tiger opened the second half on a 6-0 run. But Naperville North (14-8, 5-4) used a 10-3 spurt highlighted by another three-point play by Sharples (16 points) to close the gap to 37-25.

However, WW South answered with a 9-0 run to build a 46-25 lead after three quarters.

“You have to be really fundamental against great teams like WW South,” Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said. “We were unfundamental tonight. You can’t beat yourself. You have to get some quick easy scores. We didn’t do that.

“We made it tough on ourselves tonight. We showed some glimpses. We showed some fight. But I think we gave up too big of a lead to come back from. Give WW South credit though. They’re a great team.”

Maggie Dansdill, Erin Zappia and Olivia Linebarger (five rebounds, four assists) each had eight points for WW South. Corbett added 10 points for Naperville North, which also got four points each from Morganne Freeman and Cece Pope.