Benet upsets Bolingbrook; Waubonsie Valley also advances
Aria Mazza, what are the odds?
For the second consecutive playoff game, Benet’s 5-foot-7 junior guard found herself at the free throw line late, her team up one, the chance to salt away a win. Eerily, both times came with exactly 8.8 seconds left.
Here’s the big difference: this time the opponent was Bolingbrook, a No. 1 sectional seed, ranked No. 1 in Illinois by MaxPreps, and nationally ranked.
Not that that mattered to Mazza.
“I started smiling, I was thinking this is the same thing as against Neuqua,” Mazza said. “I just took a deep breath again. Excited to knock them down.”
Mazza was money on multiple occasions. She stuck the 3-pointer in the final three minutes that gave fourth-seeded Benet the lead for good. Her two free throws provided breathing room and the eventual margin of the 55-52 stunner in the Class 4A Oswego Sectional semifinal.
Benet (24-6) advanced to Thursday’s sectional final with Waubonsie Valley, a rematch from last year, and has now reached the sectional final in all nine postseasons under head coach Joe Kilbride.
Business as usual Tuesday?
Hardly. Benet handed Bolingbrook (26-4) its first loss to an in-state opponent on Illinois soil this season. The Redwings usually wear the favorite’s hat, but clearly enjoyed the role of underdog.
“It’s a big win. They’re ranked No. 1 in the state, and I think deservedly so,” Kilbride said. “I told our girls, I found this quote, there’s nothing as dangerous as a woman with nothing to lose, and we had nothing to lose. Everybody in the state thinks Bolingbrook is going to beat us by 20. Everything thinks that, here we go.”
Emma Briggs had 14 points and seven rebounds, and a big steal that preceded Mazza’s free throws. A second sophomore starter, Bridget Rifenburg, scored 10 points, and juniors Lindsay Harzich and Mazza each scored nine.
Trinity Jones had 25 points, six rebounds and six steals and Jasmine Jones added 10 points for Bolingbrook. Benet led by seven in the first half, 21-14, got behind by six points twice in the second half, but the Redwings wouldn’t go away against the favored opponent.
“We just came in here as underdogs and wanted to prove everybody wrong,” Mazza said. “We know what we’re capable of.”
Mazza’s certainly capable of hitting big shots, and big free throws, even though Kilbride noted her percentages at the line this season surprisingly don’t reflect that.
“It’s funny, at practice a couple days ago we were shooting and I told her it’s weird that she’s not shooting better at the free throw line because she’s such a good shooter. She was shooting well everywhere but the free throw line,” Kilbride said. “She says ‘I don’t know, I think it’s because I’m taking my time’ and I said ‘don’t take your time.’ Obviously, she’s making them when they matter.”
Indeed, 4-for-4 Tuesday after the clinching free throw in the regional final against Neuqua Valley. And, on top of that, the 3-pointer that put Benet ahead to stay, 48-46 with 2:50 left.
“Just taking the open shot,” Mazza said. “I knew my team needed it.”
Jones’ coast-to-coast score with 6:19 left had Bolingbrook up 44-38, and she nearly had a second with 1:03 left and the Raiders trailing 52-48 — but it was waved off on an offensive foul met with howls of protest from the Bolingbrook bench.
What really burned at Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith, though, were the 18 missed layups he counted against Benet’s zone defense.
“We just never got into a rhythm tonight at all,” Smith said. “We let their zone bother us. You can’t beat good teams when you miss layup opportunities. Eighteen of them, that’s 36 points, we take half of them it’s a different outcome. We just had to make shots when we had them.”
Benet’s zone kept Jones in check for much of the first half, but the 6-foot-1 sophomore asserted herself in a hurry to turn the game.
She scored 11 points in less than two minutes’ time, with three 3-pointers to key a 10-0 run to finish the half with Bolingbrook ahead 27-24.
Jasmine Jones’ jumper a minute into the second half had Bolingbrook ahead 31-25, but Benet stuck with it. The Redwings cleaned up their defensive rebounding to make the battle on the glass a push, attacked the Raiders’ pressure to get to the free throw line 18 times in the second half and the energetic zone gave Bolingbrook fits at times.
“We did a good job of just staying steady and I thought our defense was exceptional subbing two at a time,” Kilbride said. “Our effort on the defensive end was outstanding. We were very active.”
Trinity Jones’ steal in the backcourt and baseline drive and finger roll had Bolingbrook within 53-52, but after Briggs missed two free throws for Benet she came up with the ball when Jones lost it on a drive.
“We’ve seen zones all season long,” Smith said. “We just had to make the shots. Fact of the matter is, we had opportunities and didn’t take advantage. At the end of the day we can blame nobody but ourselves. We got to take ownership.”
Waubonsie Valley 44, Downers Grove North 37:
Danyella Mporokoso had many moments Tuesday evening where her shots were not falling against a tough Downers Grove North defense.
She even was benched for a stretch.
When it mattered, though, Waubonsie Valley’s standout 5-foot-7 sophomore guard was the picture of determination. Mporokoso, when she wants to, will put her head down and go straight to the rim, not to be denied. And she wasn’t to be Tuesday.
Mporokoso scored three critical baskets during a fourth quarter Waubonsie Valley run that allowed the second-seeded Warriors to finally get separation from third-seeded Downers Grove North. The Warriors went on to a 44-37 win in a Class 4A Oswego Sectional semifinal to set up a sectional final rematch with Benet.
Mporokoso had 20 points, eight in the fourth quarter, and eight rebounds and Hannah Laub 13 points for Waubonsie (30-3), which matched a school record for wins in the process.
Mporokoso’s driving layup with 5:02 left gave Waubonsie the lead for good at 34-32, and after a Downers Grove North turnover Mporokoso scored on a length of the court drive.
She finished off an 8-0 Warriors’ run in style with a block, a defensive rebound and a coast-to-coast score. It was a big turnaround for Mporokoso, who shot 8-for-22 for the game and missed 11 of her 13 shot attempts over the middle two quarters.
“Sometimes you just got to find a way to score,” said Mporokoso. “I realized my shots weren’t falling and I still needed to score. I needed to focus on getting to the basket.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love’s confidence in Mporokoso never wavered, even after he gave her some time on the bench Tuesday.
“She is a player,” Love said. “At the end of the day, shooting good or bad, I can trust her to give 110%. I took her out, I gave her a little talk and I said you’re not getting it done. We need you to get tips and steals. That steal she had when she went back in was big for her confidence and aggressiveness.”
Downers Grove North came in winners of 16 straight games, its last loss to Waubonsie at Christmas, but the Trojans missed their first seven shots in getting down 10-1 early.
The Trojans, though, came all the way back to take a 17-16 halftime lead on Abby Gross’ basket as time expired in the half, thanks to a spectacular effort from freshman Campbell Thulin.
Thulin scored 14 of her 16 points over the middle two quarters, and hit four consecutive 3-pointers. When Thulin wasn’t making shots, she was assisting two 3s and grabbing eight rebounds. Thulin’s last 3-pointer had the Trojans up 29-26 with 1:05 left in the third quarter.
“It’s going to be a fun three more years with her,” Downers Grove North coach Stephan Bolt said. “She sets the tone as a freshman. She’s not a freshman. She does things with poise that typical freshmen aren’t able to do. That’s who she is.”
Unfortunately for Downers Grove North, the Trojans lost their poise for a spell when Waubonsie came with full-court pressure out of halftime, resulting in five third quarter turnovers.
“Self inflicted there,” Bolt said. “Credit to Waubonsie for changing it up.”
Kaitlyn Parker, who scored 10 points for Downers Grove North, tied it for the final time at 32-32 with 5:54 left.
Parker is one of three Trojans’ senior starters for a team that set a program win record and won conference and regional titles.
“I’m just so proud of this group,” Bolt said. “Those kids are tough, they’re competitors and they bought into what we wanted to accomplish and I can’t thank them enough for the journey we were on. We came up a little short, probably didn’t execute, but credit to Waubonsie for making plays. I can’t think highly enough of our kids. When it looked like a bad situation tonight, they kept scratching.”
Waubonsie, meanwhile, moves on to face a familiar foe in Benet, which knocked off No. 1 seed Bolingbrook in Tuesday’s first semifinal.
Love looks forward to the opportunity against a recent nemesis.
“That’s the game I wanted,” Love said. “I know Bolingbrook is a good challenge but Benet has knocked us out of the playoffs three times since I’ve been here — regional, regional, sectional. We really wanted to play them and have that challenge.”