Bolingbrook 42, Waubonsie Valley 40

The resilient Waubonsie Valley girls basketball team valiantly erased a 16-point deficit in the second half against of the best teams in the state.

The only problem for the Warriors about their dramatic comeback is they left Bolingbrook enough time to break a tie.

And their hearts.

Freshman Ariel Massengale slashed down the left wing and banked in a shot with 1.5 seconds left, lifting the second-seeded Raiders over No. 3 seed Waubonsie Valley 42-40 in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional semifinals Tuesday night in Naperville.

"Coach (Anthony) Smith called the play, my team had enough faith in me and I went out there and knocked it down when it counted," said Massengale, who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 15.

Waubonsie Valley (26-3) saw its offense come to life in the second half but still trailed 35-23 with 4:30 remaining.

The Warriors weren't done yet, though. They reeled off a 15-5 run to tie the game in stunning fashion. Lauren Brownridge stole the ball in the backcourt and passed to Anna Gault, who fed Rachel Bostick for the game-tying bucket with 13 seconds left.

But after a timeout, Bolingbrook (25-3) set up a play and Massengale delivered the game-winner.

"She hit a tough shot over three of us," Waubonsie Valley coach Kris Kalivas said.

"Big-time players make big-time shots," Smith said. "She's a young kid, 14, but she's going to be a special one."

The Warriors eventually recovered from a shaky first half that ended with them trailing 21-8.

Satavia Taylor's 3-pointer to start the second half pushed Bolingbrook ahead 24-8.

"I knew that we were going to be able to battle ourselves back," Kalivas said. "We were too senior-orientated and those kids are too mentally tough to allow Bolingbrook to beat us by 16 points.

"Unfortunately we didn't have a very good first half shooting and that put us at quite a deficit, but I couldn't have been prouder of how the kids fought back and got themselves in a tie ballgame with 12 seconds to go."

"We just wanted it, obviously," said a teary-eyed Bostick, who led her team's typically balanced scoring attack with 12 points. "We didn't want it to be the last game."