New Waubonsie players help defeat former teammates

Waubonsie Valley's Rachel Ross downplayed the fact that she and two teammates had just played against their former school and coach for the first time Saturday afternoon in Aurora.

But there was no denying that Ross, Becky Williford and Erica Jordan could have helped their former Neuqua Valley squad quite a bit if they had not switched schools when the district restructured its boundaries. Instead they joined Waubonsie and helped the hosts roll past the Wildcats 56-34.

Williford scored on a driving basket off the opening tip, then fired up the gym by stealing a Neuqua pass with two seconds left in the first quarter and converting that into a 3-point buzzer-beating bomb from beyond center court. Ross, the first player off the bench for the 16-2 Warriors, had 6 points and 4 rebounds, while Jordan added 7 points and 2 steals.

"It's just another team in our conference," Ross said after Waubonsie improved to 6-0 in the Upstate Eight. "There was no 'old team' talk and such. But coach told us to keep our composure and we came out and had a good start."

That they did. After Williford's quick basket, Tanysha Walls followed with a three-point play and Keiera Ray sank a pair of free throws for a quick 7-0 lead. Neuqua (5-11, 1-3) then missed a couple free throws and trailed 9-0 before Jackie Geffinger finally got the Wildcats on the board with what turned out to be their only points of the quarter, which ended with the Warriors ahead 17-2 following Williford's wild 3.

"We came out right off the bat real aggressive and we finished," Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. "I thought the two keys were our defensive rebounding and then we shot free throws better. It was also important that the three (former) Neuqua girls kept their composure."

The schools played to a 10-10 draw in the second quarter as the hosts led 27-12 at the break before taking total control with an 18-9 run in the second quarter for a 45-21 margin. Ray led the way with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but nine players scored for the Warriors and everyone seemed to be on board on the defensive end.

"We were pumped because it's a rivalry," Ray said. "Becky scored right away and everything fell right in place after that. We feel real good about this win, especially for the girls who had to prove something to their old coach."

Wildcats coach Mike Williams already was well aware of the talent his three departures possess.

"Obviously, losing kids is tough," he said. "When you build a program and all of a sudden you're playing with kids that don't have that same experience - but Waubonsie's a great team and we just dug a big hole that we couldn't get out of today."

Megan Doody connected on a trio of 3s to lead Neuqua with 12 points, but the next highest scorer for the Wildcats was Lauren Sager who entered late and had a 3-point basket and a three-point play to tally 6 points.