Sports
Waubonsie Trio Too Much For Batavia
Becky Williford, Tami Morice and Rachael Ross power Warriors to a 66-36 girls basketball win over the Lady Bulldogs.
First, the good news.
Katie Baglieri knocked down her first shot of the game for a 3-pointer and Maddie Sychta’s basket off an offensive rebound gave Batavia’s girls basketball team a 5-2 lead two minutes into the opening quarter Wednesday night.
Now, the not-so-good news.
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Waubonsie Valley (21-4) answered with 15 consecutive points, keyed by junior point guard Becky Williford, junior forward Tami Morice and 6-3 junior center Rachael Ross.
The Warriors outscored Batavia 35-9 over the next 11 minutes and cruised to a 66-36 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory over the Bulldogs in Batavia.
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“You’re not going to win the game in the first couple minutes,” said Batavia Coach Tim DeBruycker. “It was nice to come out and shoot the ball better because we didn’t shoot the ball very well on Monday night (against St. Charles North).
“But then we turned the ball over and we didn’t stop any dribble-penetration,” DeBruycker said.
Warriors Wallop
Williford made her first five field-goal attempts, but more importantly, got the rest of her teammates involved early.
She dished the ball off to a wide-open Morice, who canned a 3-pointer from the corner before coming down on her next possession and hitting a short jumper in the lane.
“I thought we let Williford get into the lane too much,” DeBruycker said. “We knew that was what she wanted to do. She was dribble-penetrating and she’d kick for a 3-pointer.”
Williford and Morice each scored 16 points for the Warriors.
“Obviously the Morice girl can flat-out shoot," DeBruycker said. “You can’t let Williford create. She did a real good job of creating. You can’t let the Morice girl shoot and you can’t let the Ross girl pound it inside.”
Williford, Morice and Ross combined for 32 of the Warriors’ 37 first-half points as they built a 21-point advantage at the intermission.
“They’re quick and they’ve got athleticism,” DeBruycker said of the Warriors. “Their execution was really good tonight and we couldn’t hang with it.”
Senior guard Katie Baglieri led Batavia with nine points, while Maddie Sychta added seven points and Katie Ryan had five points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Batavia visits Elgin Thursday before returning home Friday to face Streamwood.
