Girls basketball: Waubonsie Valley rallies from 12-point halftime deficit, beats Bolingbrook in sectional semifinals
Waubonsie Valley came into Tuesday night’s Class 4A Bolingbrook sectional semifinal with 29 wins on the season against just 1 loss.
At halftime against the host Raiders, though, their stellar season was in serious jeopardy.
Bolingbrook, playing tough and tenacious basketball, ran out to a 14-2 first quarter advantage, and led 30-18 at halftime behind 14 points apiece from sophomores Sydney Dodd and Skylar Wakefield.
Then after intermission, Waubonsie Valley turned on the jets.
The Warriors tallied 23 points in the third quarter to take a 1-point lead, and kept it going late en route to a 57-44 victory.
Waubonsie Valley junior Danyella Mporokoso scored a game-high 24 points.
“We knew we had to pick it up,” said Mporokoso of the Warriors’ slow start. “I never thought we were going to lose, but we weren’t playing our best and had to turn it around.”
Taylnn Heard was the unsung hero for Waubonsie Valley Tuesday. The 6-foot junior came off the bench and dominated on the glass, giving her team a spark with 11 boards.
“I was just there to play,” said Heard. “Just wanted to show up. I knew my role is to get rebounds, so I wasn’t focused on the score. I knew what I had to do."
Warriors coach Brett Love said that Heard is coming into her own at the right time of year.
“She was clutch,” said Love of Heard. “We’ve been working with her, she was kind of new to basketball coming into high school. We took her under our wing and continued to work with her, giving her limited minutes in the first half of the season.
“She really did a good job, she did her job, and she was ready tonight.”
Wakefield scored 21 points for Bolingbrook (21-11) and was strong on the glass with 11 rebounds. Dodd finished with 16 points and 12 boards.
“We kind of lost our focus in the second half,” said Raiders coach Chris Smith. “Too many missed layups. We had some opportunities and just didn’t take advantage of them.
“Very proud of our kids tonight. We’ve just got to learn how to play 32 minutes of basketball.”
Waubonsie Valley (30-1) still trailed 36-29 with 3:46 left in the third quarter but used a 10-2 run to take control.
Senior forward Lily Newton helped seal the win with a 3-pointer with two minutes left, a shot that saw the Warriors open up an 8-point lead.
Waubonsie Valley junior Arianna Garcia-Evans gave a big assist to the victory with 14 points.
Second-seeded Waubonsie Valley now moves on to play top-seed Benet for the sectional title Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Bolingbrook. The Redwings defeated Downers Grove North 42-32 in the first semifinal of the evening.