Waubonsie Valley girls are off and running

While Waubonsie Valley's girls basketball team may not be the first to claim to get off the bus running, few teams appear able to do it quite as well as the Warriors did in Wednesday's 56-27 victory at Downers Grove South.

From the opening tip Wednesday night, the Warriors (2-0) raced up and down the floor and dominated host Downers Grove South 19-2 in the first quarter. The relentless Waubonsie Valley defense forced the Mustangs into 9 turnovers in the first eight minutes of play and also burned Downers Grove South (0-1) with second and third chances while owning the offensive glass.

"It was just like our first game," said new Warriors coach Kim Connell. "We're going to come out of the gates running and we'll press. Because we don't have a lot of height, we're running."

To Downers South's credit, the Mustangs not only weathered the first-quarter barrage but actually closed to within 27-23 after Carly Saraceno opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer that followed a turnaround second quarter in which the hosts outscored the Warriors 18-8. But following that basket, the Warriors closed out the third quarter with a 16-0 run that carried them to the win. Nineteen second-half turnovers spelled doom for the Mustangs, who were outscored 29-7 in the second half.

"They put a lot of pressure on us and all of a sudden it was 17-2," Mustangs coach Mike McGinnis said. "They're an extremely athletic, good team. We have to work on making good passes and getting back on transition."

Guard Keiera Ray wreaked havoc on Downers South all over the floor. Not only did she share scoring honors with teammate Becky Williford with 13 points, but Ray also had 5 steals and helped set the tone with three offensive rebounds in the first quarter while on her way to 10 boards for the contest.

"That was a great start for us," Ray said. "We were able to control the game. Then it was hard for them to come back because we were controlling the boards."

But the Mustangs, who trailed 21-2 early in the second quarter following Erica Jordan's inside basket for Waubonsie, managed to close to within 27-20 at the half as Katie Schmitt scored 7 points off the bench in the quarter to rally her team back into the contest.

"We went downhill for a second, but we knew we just had to come back and play better defense again," said Ray, one of seven Warriors to record at least one steal in the game.

Tami Morice hit a pair 3-pointers early for the visitors, but Downers Grove South managed to stop her from scoring again the rest of the night. Jordan, meanwhile, had 10 points and 3 steals as the Warriors had three players score in double figures.

"We played, for the most part, outstanding defense," Connell said. "I told them at halftime that it's a game of runs and tonight it was a matter of weathering the storm."