Waubonsie Valley ‘discombobulates’ Streamwood

When Waubonsie Valley is at its best, the Warriors can make good teams look bad.

Allow Becky Williford to explain.

“We try to discombobulate teams defensively, push up on them,” the Warriors junior guard said. “Once we see the frustration in their body language, we know we’ve got in their heads.”

The sixth-ranked Warriors were at their physical, grinding best Tuesday, blowing out No. 14 Streamwood 59-34 in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover game in Aurora.

It was Streamwood’s worst loss of the season. Second-ranked Libertyville is the only other team to hold the Sabres (16-4) under 35 points this season.

“They are the most physical team that we’ve played,” Streamwood coach George Rosner said of Waubonsie, “and our girls backed down. We didn’t challenge them enough. And defensively you gotta put a body on them. We let them dictate that part of the game.”

Waubonsie coach Kim Connell has been waiting for this kind of complete performance since the Warriors’ first meeting with Bartlett, a 4-point loss in November. Coincidentally, Waubonsie (18-3) hosts No. 3 Bartlett on Thursday.

“Since the first Bartlett game we’ve kind of been content,” Connell said. “We haven’t dominated teams, we haven’t run teams off the court. I thought the girls stepped up to the challenged tonight and beat a good team. Streamwood’s no slouch.”

Waubonsie led 13-10 after a quarter, then created separation with an 8-0 run to start the second. Tami Morice and Williford both scored on driving layups, Jordan Myers had a stickback basket and Tia Brooks laid in a score off a Williford feed for a 21-10 lead.

Streamwood went scoreless the first 4:13 of the second quarter until Jessica Cerda’s 3-pointer. A third Brooks basket assisted by Williford in the quarter made it 27-15. Adding salt to the wounds of a tough first half, Streamwood was called for a foul on a desperation heave by Brooks as time expired, and the Warriors sophomore swished all three free throws for a 30-15 lead.

“The officials and I, we didn’t have a good night from start to finish,” Rosner said. “They weren’t the reason we lost the game, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a call like that made.”

Brooks had a game-high 15 points for Waubonsie and also pulled down 6 rebounds and blocked 4 shots.

“The thing about Tia is she’s a pretty quiet player — she doesn’t take the spotlight like some of other kids,” Connell said. “Tia just quietly goes about our business.”

Williford had 12 points and 5 assists, Tanysha Gardner-Walls 12 points and Rachael Ross 6 points and 9 rebounds for Waubonsie, whose lead never dipped below 13 during the second half.

Michelle Tomczak paced Streamwood with 9 points, 7 in the second half. Cerda added 6 on two 3-pointers.

“We knew that Streamwood wasn’t a team to be taken lightly,” Williford said. “We needed to pick up our intensity and I thought we did that tonight.”