Waubonsie Valley cruises past Jacobs 58-35
Just another day at the office for Waubonsie Valley.
If the office is the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic at Wheaton North, Friday's 58-35 semifinal victory was business as usual for the Warriors, who earned a return trip to the championship game by defeating Jacobs.
Despite a poor shooting night the Golden Eagles (12-4) managed to stay close to Waubonsie Valley (12-1) in the first half, trailing by 6 at the break.
"We came out a bit slow, so we had to pick it up a little," Warriors senior Brittany Upshaw said.
The Warriors broke the Golden Eagles in the third quarter, opening with a 10-2 run. Jacobs never threatened again.
"It was an evening when our shots weren't falling," Jacobs coach Ed Haugens said. "The first half we went 0 for 11 from 3-point land, and they were hitting their shots from the outside. They had a nice night shooting tonight and they're a nice team.
"Are they that many points better than us? No. But you know what? They came to play and we didn't. And it's ridiculous that we played like we did tonight. We need to find other ways to score if we're not hitting from the outside, and we need some people to step up who didn't step up."
Warriors guard Kiki McClellan stepped up in the first half with freshman sensation Keiera Ray on the bench in foul trouble. McClellan scored 10 of her 12 points in the first 16 minutes. She also finished with 5 assists.
"I felt like she carried us in the first half," Warriors coach Kris Kalivas said of McClellan. "She did a great job looking for her shot in the half-court zone as well as in transition. I couldn't have asked for her to do more today. She did a great job."
"She did really well in the first half," Upshaw added. "She carried us and showed us the way so that we could start scoring."
Ray keyed the third-quarter run, scoring 10 of her game-high 15 points in the period.
"When she sits for that long, she gets pretty excited to be able to play again," Kalivas said. "So she provided a lot of that energy in the third quarter today."
Junior Katy Cook scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Jacobs, which pulled its starters with 6:23 to play in the fourth when the Warriors' lead hit 20 points.
"We played like a whole bunch of individuals tonight," Haugens said. "There wasn't much of a team effort involved. Selfishness on everybody's part. If anything can go wrong it went wrong. I give credit to the last group of five or six kids that were on the court for the last five or six minutes because they always play hard."
Waubonsie Valley will meet Hinsdale Central at 7:30 p.m. today in a rerun of the 2007 final.