The Niles West girls basketball team is both young and inexperienced, but it’s grown this season. That development is evident when the Wolves’ first and second games against Maine South are compared.
Niles West lost to the Hawks — a senior-laden team with size and varsity experience — by 28 points in Skokie on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The Wolves were shut out in the first quarter. Coach Tony Konsewicz said he wasn’t happy with the way his team, which starts two sophomores and a freshman, battled that night.
Konsewicz felt differently following a 52-45 loss to the Hawks on Friday, Jan. 22, in Park Ridge.
“I thought we really did compete,” Konsewicz said. “We played hard. … We had a couple turnovers late in the game, which cost us. I thought all the way up to the end of the game, we competed against a much bigger team.”
Maine South (13-11 entering the week) extended its lead to double digits in the second and third quarters on Friday, Jan. 22. The Hawks seemed on the verge of putting the game out of reach in both instances, but the Wolves kept fighting.
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With Niles West down 22-10 near the midway point of the second quarter, senior guard Jalynn Estrada hit a 3-pointer. Freshman guard Sam Galanopoulos then stole the ball and drained a pull-up jumper.
The Wolves scored 13 points in the final four minutes of the second quarter. They trailed 30-23 at halftime.
“They’re very well coached. They’re aggressive. They play hard,” Maine South coach Mark Smith said. “Certainly they improved.”
Maine South quickly pushed its lead back to 12 points in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but Niles West sophomore center Nicole Zelazko helped turn the momentum with a three-point play. Then Estrada converted an old-fashioned 3-point play of her own to cut the deficit to 35-29.
The game stayed very close after that — it was 44-42 with 4:22 left in the fourth quarter — and Estrada was Niles West’s leader throughout the night. She finished with 21 points and five steals in a performance that showed the value she’s had on the court during her senior season.
“She’s really embraced [being the team’s leader],” Konsewicz said. “She doesn’t get down. … As a lone senior with experience, sometimes it’s hard when you’re the last cowboy standing. You wouldn’t be able to tell anything is different. She just wants to go out and compete and play.”
Estrada will likely play in college next year, according to Konsewicz, leaving Niles West’s core of underclassmen — Galanopoulos, Zelazko and sophomore guard Tricia Pabst — with much more responsibility.
The Wolves might be in for another building season in 2016-17 as those three players and other current underclassmen grow acclimated to bigger roles. But Konsewicz is confident that the future is bright for Niles West.
“I really do [like the long-term prospects]. I think they’re going to be special,” he said. “We’re going to be young for a couple years, but by the time the freshman [Galanopoulos] is a junior and senior — and our sophomores are seniors — we can make a little bit of noise, and really turn the tables and win some more games.”
Eric Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @VanDrilSports