Bolingbrook too strong for Waubonsie Valley
Waubonsie Valley played to its strengths in Thursday's Class 4A Oswego East sectional final against Bolingbrook, but the defending state champion Raiders were just too strong.
Waubonsie Valley kept the game close for three quarters before Bolingbrook pulled away for a 59-45 victory. The Raiders (26-1) will play Edwardsville in Monday's supersectional in Bloomington.
"If we were going to go down tonight, we were going to go down doing what we do best," Waubonsie Valley coach Kim Connell said, explaining the team's game plan. "We didn't have anything specific. It was go out and play, but play better."
"We just came out and we wanted to win," added Waubonsie Valley center Rachel Ross. "We had it in our heads that we wanted to win. We tried all we could. We stayed with them for three quarters, and we had mental breakdowns the fourth quarter. But hey, it is what it is. We're going to come out next year and play twice as hard."
Down by 8 points at halftime after making only 28 percent of its shots, Waubonsie Valley (26-3) clawed back within 1 less than three minutes into the third quarter on a pair of Keiera Ray free throws.
"It took us a while offensively to get things going," Connell said. "But Bolingbrook is such a good team. They're quick. We were pretty much out of sync all game long, but we were able to scrape our way through it. But defensively we got ourselves back in the game. We just ran out of gas."
With 6-foot-2 Bolingbrook center Morgan Tuck on the bench with 4 fouls, point guard Ariel Massengale took over, guiding the Raiders to a 44-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.
"My first half wasn't the best," Massengale said. "Coach (Anthony) Smith challenged me at halftime, he said what else can you do in this game to help us get this win tonight? And I took that to heart. I really wanted to go out there and show him that I could take that challenge and show him the kind of player I was."
The fourth quarter was all Bolingbrook, which scored all 15 of its points at the free-throw line, missing just 3.
"In practice we've been shooting a lot of free throws," Tuck said, "so we just had to do it in the game also and not be scared of the big lights and get nervous and not be focused."
Massengale finished with 16 points, tying Tuck for game-high honors. Sophomores Ray, Ross and Tami Morice each scored 10 for Waubonsie Valley, which earned Tuck's respect.
"They were very good," Tuck said. "That was the best I've seen them play. We knew they were going to come out playing their best game because that's the way many teams play us. We just had to come out with ours, but we could improve some things."
The young Warriors will look to improve over the summer also.
"It was our first year with coach, so I think we did her justice," Ross said. "I think she's very proud of us, and we're all proud of each other. Six sophomores, but we'll be back. And we have one junior who's a starter, so we will be back. I have no worries about that."