Girls Basketball: Waubonsie Valley edges out rival Neuqua Valley

Updated: January 12, 2012 9:58PM

In a girls basketball game between two conference and district rivals like Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, it comes as no surprise that the game was a physical, low-scoring affair.

Waubonsie found that style more to its liking, earning a hard-fought 37-33 win over Neuqua to take over second place in the Upstate Eight Valley.

Erica Jordan’s two free throws with 5:18 left in the fourth gave Waubonsie the lead for good, 32-30. Those free throws came as part of a 7-0 run, the other five points coming from Gratia Brooks, which finally gave the Warriors some separation in the gritty battle.

“It’s a tough situation because you want to play physical, because when you go off to college, you’re going to have to get used to that,” Waubonsie senior Becky Williford said. “It’s a good and a bad thing. You don’t want anybody to get hurt, but you have to learn how to play with that aggressiveness. It will make us tougher in the long run.”

The rivals were nip-and-tuck throughout the physical affair, a game in which bodies were flying around the court all night. Waubonsie (15-1 overall, 6-1 UEC Valley) led by a point after the first quarter, with Neuqua (15-2, 4-2) leading by a point after the second and third quarters.

“It was a pretty rough game, both ways,” Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. “It wasn’t like it was lopsided. I felt like at some times, we were pinballs out there.”

Defense turned the tide for Waubonsie. The Warriors allowed only 12 second-half points, five coming in the fourth quarter. Neuqua shot only 3-for-26 from the field in the second half and 1-for-13 from three-point range in the game.

“We wanted to bring our intensity up and kind of rattle them on the defensive end,” Williford said. “We talked about boxing out, not giving them second shots, and we did a good job of limiting them in the second half.”

Williford had a lot to do with Waubonsie winning the game on the offensive end. She as solid as ever running the offense, dishing out six assists in the low-scoring affair, but she also scored a game-high 14 points.

“The nice part about Becky since being back (from a knee injury) is that she distributes the ball well, she finds her post players, but she can also score when we need her to score,” Connell said. “That’s the plus when you have a point guard like Becky.”

Neuqua was led by Allison Hedrick, who scored nine points to go with eight rebounds. Rachael Ross (nine points) and Brooks (eight points) each grabbed eight rebounds for Waubonsie in the win.

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