Warriors reserves doing yeoman work

One reason the Waubonsie Valley girls basketball team takes an undefeated record into its Upstate Eight Conference game tonight at Streamwood is the quality of its bench.

The 8-0 Warriors have a handful of reserves who could start on some other teams.

"We're very balanced and very well-rounded, and we're fortunate to be in that situation," Waubonsie Valley coach Kris Kalivas said.

Brittany Upshaw is such an effective player off the bench that she led the team in scoring last year as a sophomore at 8.5 points a game.

Kalivas likes the scoring boost Upshaw provides in the role, so the coach has continued bringing the forward off the bench as a junior this year.

Upshaw even came off the bench when junior center Rachel Bostick missed Saturday's 63-45 victory at Naperville Central to play in an out-of-state club soccer tournament.

Upshaw scored a modest 4 points but made her presence felt.

"I think Brittany Upshaw did a great job today," Kalivas said after the game. "She might not have gotten in the scorebook much, but she did a great job defensively for us, and that's another challenge that we kind of threw out to her and she rose to that today."

Kalivas thought Naperville Central would play more zone so she had shooter Erin Decker take Bostick's place in the starting lineup, and the senior guard responded with 12 points.

Then there was senior guard Lauren Brownridge.

With all-area guard Jessica Morice sitting out most of the second quarter after being whistled for her second foul, Brownridge delivered 7 points in the quarter on the way to 10 for the game.

"Brownridge can do that," Kalivas said. "She's a nice spark to have off the bench, and she's just an intense kid. She does that offensively and defensively, so I thought she did a nice job scoring especially today."

Back on the bench:ŒWhen Ed Boddy stepped down as St. Francis' coach last spring, he left open the possibility of coaching somewhere as a volunteer varsity assistant.

This season Boddy is coaching in that capacity at Glenbard West under head coach Mike Hofland.

"I didn't want to be a head coach anymore," Boddy said. "So I looked around what would be most convenient for me and where could I do some good.

"I talked to Mike and said, 'Look, I don't want to get paid. I'm not going to drive the bus. I don't want any summer money. All I want to do is just help with basketball at the varsity level.' "

"He wanted a meaningful spot, and I said, 'I've got a meaningful spot for you, come along,' " Hofland said.

Boddy is adjusting to being an assistant coach.

"You know, it's a tougher transition than I thought," he said. "The urge to blurt out something and correct something, that's what I have to work on. I've never been an assistant before. But Mike is a great guy and coach, both on fundamentals and Xs and Os."

Boddy isn't the only addition to Hofland's staff. Former Glenbard West coach Karen Judge has returned to the school to direct the sophomore team, while former athletic director Mike Skowronski is coaching the freshmen.

"It's nice to have experience," Hofland said.

Once a Spartan…:ŒSt. Francis is off to a 4-3 start under new coach Leslie Fay-Dehn.

Fay-Dehn, 26, is a 1999 graduate of St. Francis. She served as Boddy's varsity assistant last season and coached the sophomores the two years before that.

She's enjoying running the program.

"It's a great experience," Fay-Dehn said. "It's a great school. I have awesome coaches on my staff. There's great community support over here. It's a lot of work, but we have a great group of kids and it's going really well."

Young gun:ŒNiki Sebo tops the talented group of four freshmen on Downers Grove North's varsity team.

The relentless guard delivered a team-high 12 points and 7 steals in the Trojans' 40-35 West Suburban Silver opening victory.

"She did awesome getting steals and just being everywhere," said junior forward Missy Blazej, who averages a team-high 11.9 points. "She's a really good player."

"She doesn't play like a freshman," Trojans coach Darrin Travillian said. "The thing about Niki that I love is her expression never changes. She's got a game face on all the time and she wants to be coached. She wants to learn more. She wants to get better and she just wants to play and guard you and do her thing.

"She's just a competitor. She's in tremendous shape and she finds a way to keep digging."

Sidelined:ŒBenet junior guard Annie Doyle is out for the season with a stress fracture in her right foot.

"That's a big loss for us," Redwings coach Peter Paul said. "She was just kind of growing into playing. I often say it takes one year of varsity to understand what it's about. She got an opportunity to start last year.

"That put a cramp into the picture a little bit. It would help (senior guard) Katie (Dunn) to have Annie there. Now there's a lot of pressure on Katie Dunn."

Where's the 'D'?: Naperville Central took a first step toward shoring up its defense in its 49-43 triumph over Stevenson in the Sweet 16 Tournament Monday.

Prior to that the Redhawks were having trouble defending.

Said Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum after his club gave up 63 points in its 18-point loss to Waubonsie Valley last Saturday: "In our last three games we're giving up over 55 points a game. That's not good. Two of the three teams were undefeated teams, but still. To be as good as we want to be we have to play defense better than what we're playing."