Waubonsie gets victory sorted out
Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” blared from the Metea Valley sound system but it was a classic trap game Waubonsie Valley fell into Friday.
The Warriors got out of it, though.
No. 9 Waubonsie broke free from a 3-point halftime lead to beat Metea 57-34 in Aurora.
Coming off a game at Bartlett Tuesday, and with matchups with Naperville Central today and Neuqua Valley next Tuesday, Waubonsie coach Kim Connell expected the inevitable “tweener” game.
“Bartlett, that was a great game,” Connell said. “We were afraid of this letdown. Metea played us tough.”
Tanysha Gardner-Walls paced the Warriors (7-1, 1-1 Upstate Eight Valley) with 14 points and 12 rebounds. She admitted that Waubonsie hasn’t matched its performance against Bartlett in its other games.
“Sometimes we play to the level of our opponent,” Gardner-Walls said.
Metea (1-7, 0-2) kept the Warriors in an offensive funk for a half.
The Mustangs threw a box-and-one at Waubonsie and leading scorer Tami Morice. At the other end Metea sophomore Bria Walker scored 12 points in the first half, her three-point play a minute into the second quarter giving the Mustangs their last lead at 13-11.
A Walker 3-pointer pulled Metea within 19-18 with 1:48 left in the half, and it was 21-18 at the break.
“We didn’t anticipate that box-and-one on Tami,” Connell said, “and we had to adjust. But we were all out of sorts tonight. At halftime we said we just need to do what we need to do to win.”
Waubonsie made 6 of its first 8 shots to begin the second half, a 10-0 run started by a Walls putback and finished by a Rachael Ross follow shot giving the Warriors a commanding 35-21 lead.
“We went in the locker room and said we need to bring the intensity we did in the Bartlett game,” Gardner-Walls said. “To be conference co-champs we need to play with high intensity no matter what.”
Waubonsie scored 22 points in the third quarter after its 21-point first half. Warriors point guard Becky Williford scored all 8 of her points in the second half to go with 7 assists. Tia Brooks scored 14 points, Ross and Morice 7 apiece for Waubonsie.
“We made some adjustments, moving Tami to the point for a little more movement with her,” Connell said, “just so she could run the offense. We needed Becky to try to score for us.”
Lori Obendorf had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Metea, which gave up 16 offensive rebounds.
“We did a good job defensively in the first half,” said Metea coach Kris Kalivas, “and that kept us in the ballgame. For some reason in the third quarter we completely fell apart. That was the ballgame.”