Girls basketball: Waubonsie Valley shows it’s ready to play with rout of West Aurora
This is not the time of year for close calls, if you can avoid them.
Waubonsie Valley’s girls basketball team has plenty of talent, and its focus so far in the playoffs has been on staying focused and taking steps toward another trip downstate. The mission was accomplished with flying colors this week, capped off by Thursday’s 82-44 dismantling of West Aurora in the Class 4A regional title game in Aurora on the Warriors’ home court.
The 29-1 Warriors — seeded second to Benet Academy in the Bolingbrook sectional — jumped ahead of the Blackhawks 13-4 and forced 9 turnovers while building a 25-13 lead after one quarter. The lead grew to 44-23 at the half and 66-31 after three quarters as the hosts dominated a West Aurora squad that entered play with a 21-4 record.
“We talk about each game coming to dominate and taking nobody lightly. Because if we like keep it close with teams we should be beating by a lot, that’s only going to carry with us the rest of the postseason,” senior forward Lily Newton said. “So we make sure we come ready to dominate every day, hitting our shots, keeping it tight on defense and making sure that carries over to the next games.”
Newton had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win, but all five starters connected on 3-pointers and four Warriors scored in double figures, with Danyella Mporokoso leading the way with 27 points.
But it was the defense that overwhelmed West Aurora in the first half.
“I mean, it's the best defensive team that we’ve seen all season,” Blackhawks coach Teresa Waldinger. “We don’t have a lot of preparation for that type of defense. I give credit to them. They’re a great, very disciplined basketball team. We tried to hang and we just couldn’t come away with it. We were as prepared as we could be. And hats off to the Warriors.”
Mporokoso had 16 points as Waubonsie Valley took control of the game in the first two quarters. But she also made sure her teammates were involved, dishing out 6 assists and getting everyone involved. Arianna Garcia-Evans had 16 points and 8 rebounds and Maya Cobb tallied 12 points for the Warriors, who open sectional play against the winner of Bolingbrook-Yorkville, a game played Friday.
“It’s always nice to get a plaque,” said Mporokoso, a junior who has been instrumental in turning the Warriors program around the last three years. “We’ve been working so hard throughout the season trying to fix all the little mistakes we had [on defense]. To see it come together is nice.
“But it’s also so nice to have five guys who can efficiently score the ball. We definitely want to get better from each season so getting past fourth [place] will definitely do that.”
Brooklyn Johnson paced the Blackhawks with 19 points and 7 rebounds and Shiane Johnson added 12 points, but they just couldn’t slow a Warriors team that opened the regional with a 88-32 defeat of Plainfield South.
“To come in and dominate the two teams like we were supposed to … this season I feel like we’ve let it get a little too close with teams,” Newton said. “That doesn’t really get your confidence up and it doesn’t get your energy high. Playing like this is probably the perfect way to start out the postseason.”