Waubonsie Valley takes home regional prize

Thursday night’s 51-30 victory by the Waubonsie Valley girls basketball team over Oswego East in the Class 4A Downers Grove South regional final allowed the Warriors to take home a few prizes.

First, and obviously important, was another regional title plaque, the Warriors’ fifth straight. That pushes them to a Tuesday night Romeoville sectional semifinal battle against Benet at 7:30 p.m.

The Redwings prevailed 42-34 over Wheaton Warrenville South to win the Naperville North regional title, also Thursday night. Benet will be looking for revenge; Waubonsie sent the Redwings home last season in a sectional semifinal, 66-34.

The final prize is that Waubonsie got on the bus at Downers Grove South with some momentum. Granted, a team gets momentum by winning a regional title. But the Warriors looked flat in Tuesday’s 52-39 regional semifinal win over Metea Valley, and except for the third quarter Thursday night, Waubonsie’s game was running on all cylinders.

“(Oswego East is) very athletic and we knew we couldn’t come out slow,” said Waubonise junior Becky Williford, who with teammate Tia Brooks shared game-high scoring honors, each with 13 points. “When you come out with itensity, it opens so many opportunities.”

Just 1:21 into the game, Wolves coach Nate Eimer called a timeout to try and cool Waubonsie down. The Warriors led 7-0 thanks to three Oswego East turnovers and no shots along with Brooks’ three putback baskets.

Brooks’ first five buckets of the night were putbacks. She finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

“The main point was just boxing out. We were playing good team ball and transitioning well,” she said.

Waubonsie (24-4) led 16-8 after the first quarter and 25-15 at intermission. Five of the Wolves’ seven points in the second quarter came from free throws and the team’s first field goal didn’t come until Venita Parsons stole the ball for a layup with just a couple of seconds left.

Oswego East (21-7) wouldn’t go away, however, and edged the Warriors 9-8 in the third quarter thanks to a late drive to trail just 33-24 at the end of the it.

Waubonsie regained the upper hand in the final period, scoring 18 of the game’s last 24 points to move on to the sectional semifinal.

“Waubonsie took over the fourth and we couldn’t match it. We just ran out of gas,” Eimer said.

Tami Morice also scored in double digits for Waubonsie with 10. Oswego East was led by Parsons’ 8 points.