Warriors close in on perfection

The Waubonsie Valley girls basketball team is one game away from perfection -- at least in the Upstate Eight Conference.

The Warriors won their ninth conference game this year after topping St. Charles East 50-27 Tuesday in St. Charles.

"It's been like that for several years, where one game has kept us from being in first or kept us from clinching it by ourselves," Warriors coach Kris Kalivas said. "I think this group came in pretty determined to come out on top without anybody with us."

"We've just been working so hard since last year," added Waubonsie Valley's Rachel Bostick, who led all players in rebounds with 7. "We want to go really far, and we think that we can do really well. … We've wanted this from the beginning, and I think we knew we could get it from the beginning."

Waubonsie Valley, which improved to 23-2 overall, hosts East Aurora on Friday for its final conference game of the year.

St. Charles North locked up second place at 9-1. St. Charles East and Lake Park are both 7-2.

The Saints and Lancers will decide third place at 4:30 p.m. today in Roselle. St. Charles East is 14-11 overall.

The Warriors scored the first 10 points from four players against the Saints. They ended up holding them to just 2 points in the first quarter.

"I was pretty happy with the defense we threw out right away," Kalivas said. "I was happy with the kids' effort right off the bat."

Waubonsie Valley's largest lead of the second half was 20-2 with 5:24 remaining before the break.

Right after that, however, St. Charles East went on a 10-0 run and cut Waubonsie Valley's lead to 20-12 after a pair of Lexi Baltes free throws with 2:15 left in the second quarter.

The Warriors, however, scored the final 5 points of the quarter for a 25-12 lead at halftime.

"They played great defense on us -- they were getting all the stops," St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said. "That was frustrating, to work so hard to cut it to 8. We had them in great foul position. We were going to the (free throw) line, but they got it back up to 13. We gave them 5 easy points, so that was frustrating. Going down 8 at halftime against this team would have been nice."

From there Waubonsie Valley always led by double digits. The Warriors outscored the Saints 18-6 in the third quarter and led by as much as 25 points in the fourth.

Not one player from either side scored in double digits. Brittany Upshaw led the Warriors with 9 points off the bench, followed by Lauren Brownridge's 8 points.

"It's pretty normal for us," Kalivas said. "It's been pretty balanced all year."

"We are very even," Bostick added. "If you stop one of us, there's always someone else who can fill in. We are a well-balanced team."