For Waubonsie, it's mind over Raiders

Part of winning is finding a winning mentality.

Waubonsie Valley has it. Glenbard South is still working toward it.

Like they did in 2007, the Warriors defeated the Raiders to earn a trip to the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic semifinals at Wheaton North, this time with a 61-52 victory Tuesday.

"We kind of set this aside from our regular season and use this as a goal to go as far as we can and win it," Waubonsie Valley guard Kiki McClellan said.

"That was a battle," Waubonsie Valley coach Kris Kalivas said. "We pulled away early, then they clawed their way back into the game. Fortunately we were able to sustain some foul trouble and come out on top."

Waubonsie Valley (11-1) went up 21-10 in the second quarter, only to see the Raiders score the next 7 points, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Even when Glenbard South fell behind 55-42 after three quarters, then had starting guards Kim Schwerdtmann and Meghan Pipal foul out, the Raiders (7-4) cut the margin to 7 with 56 seconds left on an Allie Romano basket.

"Our kids played well in the first half," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "I think they played better in the second half. We were in the game. I'd just like to see our kids believe that they could come on the floor and beat a team like that instead of just hanging with them."

"It was really aggressive," McClellan said. "It kind of felt like the ball was bouncing around a lot. We just wanted to make sure we met their aggressiveness and just got on the floor and made sure we contained ourselves."

The Warriors got just more than half their scoring from two freshmen, Keiera Ray and Tami Morice. They combined for 32 points, with Ray adding 8 rebounds.

"She continued to play older and bigger than she is," Kalivas said of Ray. "And she just does so many things for us on the floor, I can't begin to point out just one specific attribute that she contributes for us. She's flying through the passing lanes, she's rebounding, she had some nice outside shots today, she finished her free throws today. She just does so much for us out there.

"Tami did a nice job as well. She's looking to shoot from the outside, and we're happy to see that, and she does a real nice job of taking the ball to the basket."

Waubonsie Valley will meet Jacobs at 6 p.m. Friday.