Warriors happy to be left alone

Waubonsie Valley's girls basketball team finally sits alone atop the Upstate Eight Conference.

Fueled by the return of junior forward Jessica Morice, the Warriors dispelled St. Charles North 64-46 Saturday afternoon, placing them a game ahead of the North Stars with just two conference games remaining.

Both teams entered Saturday's contest unbeaten in the UEC, yet Waubonsie Valley rode Morice's energy for a convincing 18-point victory.

"It's huge. She obviously scores a lot offensively for us, and she adds a little height defensively," Warriors coach Kris Kalivas said. "I thought she added just a great spark today energy-wise, and I thought all the kids followed that spark."

Morice wasted little time making her presence felt, scoring 6 first-quarter points as Waubonsie Valley (22-2, 8-0) jumped out to a 17-11 lead after one.

"It felt really good. It was basically a month buildup of excitement and ready-to-go, and I was just really pumped for this game" the 5-8 Morice said of her long-anticipated return to action from injury. "We knew we had to win it, and we did a good team effort and we did what we needed to do."

The Warriors took advantage of their first half opportunities from the floor, connecting on 11 of 21 field-goal attempts in building a 35-23 halftime lead.

"I think that we had some good penetration and kick-outs, and our shooters are always ready to shoot from the outside," Kalivas said. "We kind of sunk the defense in, and then we were getting some open looks. Our shooters are ready to go, and fortunately they were on tonight."

A pair of Morice free throws with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter put the Warriors ahead 46-29, yet St. Charles North (18-5, 9-1) continued to battle.

Morice finished with 19 points. Center Kelsey Smith led the North Stars with 23.

The North Stars cut Waubonsie Valley's lead to 9 points with 1:08 in the third but couldn't sustain the momentum needed to complete the comeback.

"You've got to answer to a team like that, and we didn't answer very well," North Stars coach Katie Sauber said. "When we had our opportunities, we didn't run the plays we were supposed to. You could pick a number of different things that didn't go right for us today, but the biggest thing is that we didn't come out ready to play."

Kalivas knows her team can't let up yet with conference games next week against St. Charles East and East Aurora.

"All we have to do is clean up next week and we'll be fine," she said.