Waubonsie Girls Come Up Just Short In UEC Test

BARTLETT – Early supremacy in the Upstate Eight Valley was up for grabs Tuesday as Waubonsie Valley's girls basketball team faced off against Bartlett.

The Warriors were anxious to show they still belong among the conference's elite despite missing a couple of key players from last year's team. They faced a tough test against the unbeaten Hawks and Wisconsin-bound wing Jacki Gulczynski.

Waubonsie hung close until the final minute before Bartlett was able to salt away a 68-64 win, but the Warriors were upbeat after their first loss of the season.

"Our demeanor coming into the game was that we were going to play as hard as we could even though they're the ones everyone was saying would win; we were going to bring it to them," said Waubonsie guard Becky Williford, who paced the Warriors' five players in double figures with 16 points. "We wanted to prove people wrong. I think we made a huge statement saying that we can still go on with our game even though we're missing a few things."

It was Williford's baseline jumper that gave Waubonsie (6-1 overall, 1-1 UEC Valley) a 62-61 lead with 2:15 left in the fourth. But the Hawks (6-0, 1-0) hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch and the Warriors missed four shots down low in the final few minutes.

"That was a great girls basketball game," Waubonsie coach Kim Connell said. "And it was our first real test. We hadn't been tested, and I'm proud of the way we played up and down. We struggled in spots. Losing two starters, the talk is all Bartlett, and we wanted to make a statement. I'm proud of the girls for the way they played, regardless of the mistakes."

Bartlett took a 19-12 lead after a quarter, thanks to a half-court heave at the buzzer that Nicole Beck drained. But Waubonsie put up 24 points in the second to take a slim 36-35 lead into the half. Three-pointers from Williford, Tanysha Gardner-Wells and Tami Morice fueled the quarter.

The game remained nip-and-tuck the entire second half, with each team holding four-point leads at different junctures. One of the things that kept the Warriors in the game was a 40-25 rebounding edge, despite a decided height advantage for Bartlett across the board.

"A lot of rebounding isn't always size," Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. "It's about positioning yourself in the right spot, thinking one play ahead. It's heart and desire. There are a lot of things that go into rebounding. I've always been one that thought size was a little misleading. We're going to have to work harder on the boards."

After the loss, Waubonsie was already looking forward to Thursday, Jan. 27. That is the date that Bartlett makes its trip to Aurora.

"Hopefully we stay where we're at in conference, and we'll have a showdown at our place at the end of the season," Connell said.

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