Neuqua Valley knocks out Metea Valley
Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams sounded like a boxer still standing after 15 rounds. The heavyweight is next.
“We gutted it out,” Williams said, “and now we get ready to go play the Yankees.”
Those “Yankees” would be three-time defending state champion Bolingbrook, No. 4 seed Neuqua’s reward after winning a 52-41 grudge match with No. 12 Metea Valley in Friday’s final of the Class 4A Oswego regional.
The rubber match between District 204 rivals was plenty physical — three girls fouled out — and wasn’t always pretty. But the Wildcats will gladly take their first regional title since 2006 and will meet Bolingbrook on Neuqua’s home floor in a Tuesday sectional semifinal.
“It means a lot,” Neuqua’s Malia Smith said. “We all wanted to get this one for our two seniors.”
Twins Malia and Najee Smith, two of Neuqua’s seven sophomores, both came up big. Malia Smith had 11 points, 9 rebounds, a pair of late steals in Metea’s backcourt and two free throws to ice it. Najee Smith came off the bench with a team-high 15 points, 6 in the first quarter to spark Neuqua after Metea got off to a 3-0 lead.
Najee Smith was back after missing two games with a strained Achilles’ tendon. Neuqua (23-6) also got 8 points and 12 rebounds off the bench from sophomore post Kristen Moore.
“I could see in the locker room that the girls were kind of dead,” Najee Smith said. “Our bench brings us energy every time.”
Metea (16-13) came in 8-1 over its last nine games, a stretch that included a 43-42 win over Neuqua. The Mustangs battled back from down 17-5 early, holding Neuqua scoreless for nearly nine minutes to go into halftime down just 24-21. But Metea might have cost itself a shot at its first regional title at the free-throw line, making just 2 of 12 attempts in the third quarter, and trailed 34-25 going into the final period.
Perhaps lured into Neuqua’s frenetic pace, Metea further hurt itself with 26 turnovers. Bria Walker kept the Mustangs in it with 17 points, including a 3-pointer to end the first quarter and another in the final seconds of the second, but Metea’s posts never got untracked.
“We shot ourselves in the foot time and time again,” Metea coach Kris Kalivas said. “Unfortunately we picked a heck of a day to have an off night. We played right into their hands and let them set the tempo.”
Neuqua pushed the lead to 37-27 on a driving layup by Malia Smith, and two Megan Doody free throws made it 43-32 with 3:03 left. Metea charged back to within 43-39 on a three-point play by Lori Obendorf, but Malia Smith hit two free throws and stole the inbounds pass leading to two Najee Smith free throws.
Doody scored 12 points for Neuqua, which next gets the monumental task of Bolingbrook and its eight Division I seniors led by Connecticut-bound Morgan Tuck.
“We’re glad to get the opportunity,” Najee Smith said.
Obendorf added 9 points and 9 rebounds for Metea, which returns all but one starter next year after taking a big leap forward in its second year.
“We had a good second half of the season,” Kalivas said. “Hopefully, this will give us a little motivation, and we can build and learn from this experience.”