Waubonsie hands Bartlett first defeat
Waubonsie Valley hangs its hat on defense and rebounding.
The Warriors banked on both to hang Bartlett its first girls basketball loss.
No. 3 Waubonsie scored the game’s final 13 points to knock off unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Bartlett 58-45 on Friday in Aurora, ending the Hawks’ 26-game conference winning streak.
Waubonsie (18-2, 8-1 Upstate Eight Valley), which lost the teams’ first meeting 65-47 in December, pulled even in the Valley race. Bartlett (22-1, 8-1) swept last year’s season series.
But not this time.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Warriors senior Erica Jordan, who scored a team-high 17 points. “We all knew this was going to be a tough game. We just dug deep.”
Dug in defensively, they did.
Bartlett, trailing the whole second half and down in the fourth quarter for the first time this season, pulled even 45-45 with 6:43 left on a Haley Videckis 3-pointer.
Stunning for a team scoring near 70 points per game, it was Bartlett’s last basket.
Rachael Ross muscled in a three-point play with 4:33 left to give Waubonsie the lead for good, Tia Brooks hit 2 free throws, Jordan scored on a driving layup and Becky Williford converted a three-point play for a 54-45 bulge.
All the while, Waubonsie’s defense never waned, forcing 7 late turnovers.
“If we have a strength, it’s defense,” Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. “I told the girls, ‘This is like a championship game. In order to be the best you gotta beat the best,’ and we beat one of the best teams in the state tonight. Defensively, we were lockdown those last six minutes.”
Videckis scored a game-high 23 points for the Hawks, who were without injured point guard Janessa Baker (sprained ankle). Videckis scored all but 4 points in the second half for Bartlett, whose loss left Whitney Young as the only undefeated team left in the Chicago area. Kristin Conniff added 7 points.
Of Bartlett’s first 22 games, 20 were won by double digits.
“If we get better from this, that’s a good thing,” Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. “We try to simulate close games, but we just haven’t had that many this year. It’s never good to lose, but it was good for us to be in this kind of situation.”
Brooks powered in 13 points with 15 rebounds for Waubonsie — and pulled down 8 of the Warriors’ 16 offensive rebounds. Waubonsie won the battle of the boards 36-23 behind the inside power of Brooks, Ross and Jordan. Ross added 12 points and 6 boards.
“We were ready to beat them,” Brooks said. “When we have girls driving to the basket like they did tonight it clears out space underneath. We all try to crash boards. Rebounding is the key to any game.”
The first half was nip-and-tuck — and dominated by free throws. Bartlett led by as much as 16-10, Waubonsie’s biggest advantage 25-22, and the Hawks took a 29-28 lead into the break. The two teams combined to shoot 28 free throws over the first two quarters, and foul trouble limited Waubonsie’s Tami Morice and Bartlett’s Conniff.
“Bartlett, I believe they are going to state — they’re a great team,” Connell said. “One thing I told our seniors, ‘Let’s make memories tonight.’ I think they did.”