Girls Basketball: Waubonsie Valley’s Becky Willford surpasses 1,000 career points

Updated: February 3, 2012 11:13PM

On a night when an individual milestone took center stage, Waubonsie Valley’s size and hard-nosed defense led the way to a 38-30 victory over East Aurora on the Tomcats’ home floor.

Entering the contest, Warriors senior guard Becky Williford had scored 999 points in her four-year varsity career. At the 5:20 mark of the first quarter, she scored a layup to bump her total over the 1,000-point mark. East Aurora officials stopped the contest briefly to recognize Williford.

“It feels great, but I could not have achieved it without my teammates helping me and my parents pushing me,” said Williford.

The Warriors’ man-to-man defense stifled the Tomcats by forcing outside shots. Tyshee Towner (game-high 18 points) scored eight of East’s 10 first-quarter points. Towner, who drained all four of her attempts from long range in the game, dropped her second trey near the end of the half to keep the Cats close at 22-17.

Tami Morice (9 points) also made two long-range baskets in the half for Waubonsie, but the Warriors also continually tried to work the ball to their post player Rachel Ross (9 points).

“We tried to drive the gaps to make their defense collapse, and that opened up looks down low or open kickouts for the three,” said Williford. “Defensively, we tried to bunch the middle to eliminate their drives.”

Another three by Towner brought East to within six at 28-22 with 25 seconds left in the third, but Morice countered with her third three with just two seconds left to hurt the Tomcats comeback.

Brandi McAlister scored after a steal to open the fourth for East, but they didn’t score from the field again until one minute remained in the contest.

Waubonsie (20-2, 10-1 Upstate Eight Valley) pounded the offensive boards 10 times in the second half, and continued to look for Ross in the middle. Williford (team-high 11 points) and Erica Jordan knocked down jumpers, and the Warriors went to the line 10 times in the fourth as they slowly pulled away.

The Cats (9-16, 2-7) did not give up, and a drive by Marta Medina and another trey by Towner brought the deficit to eight, but time had run out.

East did shoot 40 percent from the field, but Waubonsie managed 15 more shots and made 13 for 33 percent.

“Their help-side helped on defense, but ours didn’t,” said Towner. “They stopped us, but our mid-line wasn’t there on defense.”

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