Waubonsie Valley shrugs off long ride
Waubonsie Valley was just lucky it arrived before the scheduled tip-off of its 54-29 win over West Aurora at Wheaton North High School on Monday night.
The evening snowfall caused the Warriors' team bus to be delayed and prohibited Waubonsie Valley (11-1) from the proper time to shoot around and warm up for its opening game at the Bill Neibch Holiday Classic.
“I'll be honest, we were all out of sorts the whole game,” said Warriors coach Kim Connell. “The bus was 45 minutes late and then with the snow we were doing 5 miles an hour to the game.”
If there was one Warriors unfazed by the inconvenience of arriving tardy, it was junior guard Tami Morice. Morice drained two early 3-pointers and finished with 8 points in the first quarter.
The rest of the Warriors started heating up toward the end of the first quarter. Waubonsie point guard Becky Williford led a beautiful fast break by finding Tanysha Gardner-Walls underneath the hoop for the final two points of the first quarter.
Williford recorded 10 assists as she began to consistently hook up with her favorite target, junior forward Rachael Ross, in the third quarter.
“Becky's a really good passer,” Ross said. “I seal, and she passes me the ball.”
Ross took over in the third quarter. Her nice drop-step move allowed her high-percentage shots the entire period. She finished with 12 points in the third and 19 overall.
“No one's going to stop (Ross) if she has position,” Connell said. “She's a force inside and can dominate if she wants to.”
West Aurora (0-11) kept fighting on offense and even managed to swish an NBA-range 3-pointer from junior Ladesha Nelson as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.
The Blackhawks got a spark off the bench from freshmen Abria Zeitz in the fourth quarter. She knocked in 3 of her 4 shots in the period.
“Our team was running things the way we asked in the fourth quarter,” said West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl.
Like most teams that have gone against the Warriors, West Aurora defended Waubonsie in a zone defense.
According to Connell, the best strategy to combat the zone is for her team to keep working the ball into the post.
“I've been working hard sealing and putting the ball in the basket in the off-season,” Ross said. “I've been posting up higher to get a better angle.”
Connell said West Aurora is team No. 10 of the 11 previous Warriors opponents that have ran a zone defense against Waubonsie.