Williford dishes up Waubonsie win over Neuqua

With her superior court vision Waubonsie Valley junior Becky Williford has what television analysts would refer to as a “high basketball I.Q.”

Williford’s 8 assists and her knack for finding open shooters led the Warriors to a 53-43 home win over Neuqua Valley on Monday night.

“We just kept driving and dishing,” said Waubonsie leading scorer Tami Morice. “(Becky’s) really quick. She gets past the defense. She does it all.”

Morice finished with 19 points.

The Warriors (20-4, 8-3) were held in check by Neuqua Valley’s matchup zone defense for the majority of the first half. The uptempo defense forced Warriors turnovers throughout the first half, but Neuqua (18-6, 8-4) was unable to sustain the lead.

“Once we create turnovers we have to do something with them,” said Neuqua coach Mike Williams. “We can’t miss easy buckets.”

The Wildcats went on a major scoring drought in the second quarter, and Waubonsie jumped on the opportunity to change the complexion of the game.

Williford set Morice up with an open midrange jumper for the first Warriors points of the second quarter. Moments later she found 6-foot-3 Rachael Ross down low for an inside bucket.

“If I can open up the easy, high-percentage points in the post that’s fine with me,” Williford said.

Morice kept the Warriors’ momentum rolling along as she opened the second half with a steal and layup. Three minutes later the Wildcats were forced to call timeout as another Morice steal and layup put Waubonsie ahead 32-16.

“Defense is our strength on a good night,” said Waubonsie coach Kim Connell.

According to Morice, a significant part of the Warriors’ strategy heading into the game was containing Neuqua sharpshooter Megan Doody.

Doody finished the game with two 3-pointers and 8 points as Morice guarded her the majority of the game.

“I had to stay on (Doody) and not play help defense,” Morice said. “I thought I did a pretty good job. We wanted to keep her (scoring) under double digits.”

Neuqua crept back into the game with rebounding and an ability to get to the free-throw line. The Wildcats even sunk a half-court 3-pointer by senior Alexa Wilde as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.

Waubonsie held on to the lead by countering the Wildcat’s scoring spree with easy baskets on the other end.

“The easiest shot we can get is what we’ll take,” Williford said. “Whatever benefits my team is best. It doesn’t have to come from me scoring.”