Girls Basketball: Becky Williford quickens Waubonsie Valley’s pace

Updated: January 19, 2012 9:08PM

Knowing that speedy point guard Becky Williford was going to miss the start of her senior season at Waubonsie Valley due to knee surgery, wings Erica Jordan and Tami Morice faced a brand new challenge.

“They were like, ‘You have to run point guard,’” Morice said. “Erica and I tried to not dribble too much and keep passing to each other. It was definitely a different experience.”

With Williford encouraging them from the sidelines, the Warriors survived without their point guard. It wasn’t always pretty, but they won their Thanksgiving tournament and went 5-0 without Williford.

“We were a much slower pace when we didn’t have her,” Morice said. “Now that she’s back, it’s a quicker game.”

Williford came back ahead of schedule from ACL surgery. She suffered the injury in late June and had her surgery July 15. She started doing treadmill work about a month after the surgery and was cleared to do some practice activities in November. By Dec. 3, she had gotten her knee brace and was cleared to play, coming off the bench in a win over Naperville Central.

Her first game back in the starting lineup was a loss to Bartlett, which is still unbeaten, on Dec. 13. The Warriors then rattled off eight straight wins — including the title at the Wheaton North tournament over the holidays — before Monday’s loss to red-hot Benet at the McDonald’s Shootout at Willowbrook.

“I think everyone just got adjusted to their roles because at first, everybody was playing different positions,” Williford said. “Now since I’m back from injury, everybody is having a chance to thrive at their normal positions.”

The next hurdle for Williford to clear is to play without her bulky brace. When she was given the brace at the beginning of December, she was told she had to use it for 8-to-10 weeks. That timetable is rapidly coming to an end.

“We’re hoping at some point that she gets to play without the brace, because the brace is limiting her,” Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. “We’re hoping down the road she can do that.”

Williford’s straight-ahead speed is still intact, and her conditioning is vastly improved since her comeback. But there are still some things that the brace makes difficult for her.

“I should be out of it soon,” Williford said. “Sometimes it restricts movement in the back, stop-and-go defense, making cuts, that’s not where it used to be. Once I get that brace off, I should be fine.”

By the time the brace gets off, it should be around the Jan. 27 posting of the seeds for the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional. The 16-2 Warriors figure to grab one of the top four seeds, with three-time defending state champion Bolingbrook, Benet and Neuqua Valley also in the mix.

Despite missing valuable summer evaluation time due to her injury, interest from college coaches is picking up and Williford reports that the process is going well. Senior night for Waubonsie’s core of Jordan, Morice, center Rachael Ross and Williford is rapidly approaching.

In the blink of an eye, they will be moving on to college and putting this chapter of their lives behind them.

“It feels so unreal,” Williford said. “It seems like just last year, I was a freshman.”

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